Mass Effect: Murphy's Law
by TacoWrath
Summary: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Ain't that the cold, hard truth. When everything inevitably does go wrong, strong men and women get to work and refuse to accept any other outcome, no matter how bleak. As those men and women, we'll be running into a lot more questions than answers, but then again... scientific minds thrive off discovery and problem-solving.
1. Entanglement

…

"We were not meant to save the Earth; we were meant to leave it." (Interstellar)

…

Catonsville High School, February 6th, 12:56 PM, 2014

…

I sat at my desk, thoroughly bored with my class. This was unprecedented, I had actually finished every assignment that my teacher Mr. Wiseman had given me, from building a greenhouse to creating 3D models in the school's computers. Though I did like Mr. Wiseman, his classes felt… too easy. This was supposed to be advanced tech applications?

While the neanderthals who didn't care about this class monkeyed around with the soldering guns or played flash games on the computers, I sat there with my hands in my pockets, thinking of something to do. Failing at that, I looked over to the end of my row, seeing a guy with oily brown hair, pale skin, and a lot of freckles. He was wearing a German camo jacket, which I thought was interesting. He had also completed all his projects, and was now fiddling with his watch.

Out of curiosity, I decided to try talking to him. No one else in the class ever bothered to try and talk to him, and I didn't know why.

"Hi." I greeted, standing above him.

"Um… hi." He replied softly, looking nervously at me. "Um, do you need something?"

"Not really, just looking to make small talk." I answered casually, talking a seat next to him. "What's your name?"

"My name… my name is Dan." He said with a slight stutter, looking at me inquisitively.

"My name is Sean, nice to meet you." I announced, offering him a handshake. He slowly, but surely accepted it. "Tell me, what do you think of the concept of rail guns in space?"

I could tell that piqued his interest, as he stood up straighter.

We sat there and talked about military technology for the next hour and a half, and we didn't let up. By the time the class was over, we had covered many various topics.

"You and I are a lot like each other." I remarked, smiling at him.

"Yeah." He replied with a neutral expression, but with a lot more ease to his voice. "I guess."

"Wanna be friends? None of my other friends really have the same interests as you." I offered, leaning on my desk.

"Sure." He agreed, with a small smile.

And thus began our long friendship.

…

Catonsville, July 4th, 8:30 PM, 2014

…

Me, Dan, his 15-year old sister Lydia and one of her friends, Jessica had spent the whole day together, walking around Catonsville. It was the most fun I got to have in years, even though we didn't really do much. I brought cookies over to his house, where his mom was having a small party with a few of her own friends.

We started off the day idling around his house, before the four of us got bored and wandered off into the neighborhood. It was fun just walking around, listening to the sounds of people celebrating the birthday of our country. Everything had fallen perfectly into place that day, the sky was clear, there was a gentle breeze, and it was a pleasant 64 degrees.

After doing that for a while, we headed over to my house to hang out with my parents. Our house was built in the 1930's, it was moderately sized but just perfect for me and my parents. I had only lived here for three years, but they were the best years of my life. Our house was adorned with American flags everywhere we looked, the tall trees were filled with leaves, creating beautiful sun shafts that moved all over the porch.

After we all talked for a while and the sun began to go down, the four of us began our walk over to the high school, where every Fourth of July they held a full-fledged fireworks show. We walked alongside hundreds of other people carrying coolers and blankets, all going to see the show.

"When's it supposed to start again?" Lydia asked, throwing her hoodie over her shoulder as we threw down a blanket and took a seat.

"In another couple minutes, I think." Dan replied, as we all looked around at the crowd that had gathered. There must have been thousands of people gathered around on the fields waiting for the display.

After talking idly for about two more minutes, the display began.

A rainbow of colors in different shapes and sizes danced in front of us for half an hour, keeping our gaze firmly glued to the sky. The sound of it was deafening, reminding me of all those movies that showed paratroopers dropping into Normandy during World War Two. When it had ended and people began to leave, I looked over at my friends and smiled.

That was the greatest day of my life.

…

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 19th, 8:11 AM, 2019

…

Dan and I walked out of our dorm room, heading to my car. My car was an old thing, a beat up Toyota Corolla. It may have been old, but it got the job done. We decided tonight was the perfect time to celebrate, and we were going to do it the same way we always did; by going out and stuffing ourselves with food.

MIT had just forwarded our joint work on quantum mechanics to the National Science Foundation, which was a really big deal for us. If they accepted our dissertation, we could end up in the big leagues.

"So, what do you think is going to happen?" I asked, looking over at Dan for a second before looking back to the road.

"I don't know… know." He replied, attempting to once again check his equations. "Maybe we can get into one of those think-tanks."

"Come on, who needs those jokers?" I argued, turning my head slightly in his direction while keeping my eyes on the road. "Our work on quantum field theory alone puts everything else I've seen out there to shame, cut and fucking dry."

"Sean, we can't solve the problem of displace… displacement on our own." He argued, looking harder at the papers in front of him before turning to me. "And even if we did somehow do it ourselves, we'd still need some kind of outside funding to make any use of our discoveries."

"Yeah, If only I could manipulate gravity to move a few million dollars to our bank accounts." I replied sarcastically as we pulled up to Andy's Diner.

After we were given a table and sat ourselves down, Dan immediately began working on his paper again. He ordered his usual meal, scrapple and home fries. In contrast, I ordered scrambled eggs with bacon and toast.

"Hm… what was Bell's Theorem again?" Dan asked, tapping his lower lip with his pen.

"Erm…No physical theory of local hidden variables can ever reproduce all of the predictions of quantum mechanics." I quoted word for word with my eyes closed, taking a sip of my water. "Why?"

"I was just curious abou-" He started to say before he was cut off. A man was approaching us. He was middle-aged with wrinkles under his eyes, gunmetal grey hair, and wearing a tailored coat over a wrinkled shirt.

"Hey, are you two Sean and Dan?" He asked, hands firmly placed in his pockets.

"Spot on." I answered, as Dan nodded with confusion clearly seen on his face.

"The name's Markus Ember." He greeted, offering a handshake. "I'm from the NSF."

"Oh, so you're here about our dissertation?" I guessed, accepting the handshake as Dan simply stared at him.

"Uh huh." He confirmed, taking a seat next to us. "I'm also here to offer you two a job."

"Really?" Dan exclaimed in surprise, sitting forward.

"My colleagues and I all agree that your work with quantum mechanics is the most amazing stuff we have ever seen." Markus said, leaning forward and looking us both in the eyes. "We are prepared to give you both six-figure paychecks, unlimited funding, and all the resources you could possibly need."

Dan and I looked at each other in bewilderment before looking back at Markus.

"What would you have us working on?" I asked, knowing that Dan and I were both interested in his offer. He smiled, folding his hands together.

"Something beyond your wildest imaginations." He said, handing us both business cards.

…

Area 51, October 5th, 11:46 AM, 2023

…

"Ah hah! It works!" I yelled, pumping my fist in the air with a positive feeling in my chest.

The Spatial Distortion Device (SDD) was fully functioning, much to the excitement of me and my team. The baseball field-sized device in question had actually been under development since the early 80's, but only now did we have the true technology and scientific calculations needed to make it function. The SDD was based off of the Einstein-Rosen Bridge Theory, which meant if we could narrow down a destination… we could create a small wormhole and travel anywhere… to another planet or another dimension. We had achieved what Carl Sagan could only dream of.

We had solved the issue of the wormholes instantly collapsing on themselves by creating what was comparable to a faraday cage and a centrifuge. The stabilizer spun extremely fast, emitting a strong gravitational field to counter the spatial distortions created by the wormhole. The implications of this device were limitless. Once we finished the calculations that would compensate for the Maxwell equations… we were set. To where, we had no idea, but a good scientist always makes sure to come up with an educated hypothesis when the unknown is involved.

For the last two months we had been trying to solve the power distribution issue that had been causing our coolant systems to overload. Dan had finally solved the issue by cooling the core using a brand new argon dispersement system he designed himself. I had to give the guy credit, he was even smarter than he was as a teenager.

"I told you it was possible!" I rejoiced, giving my friend Dan a huge hug. This obviously made him uncomfortable, but he still smiled in light of what we had accomplished.

"Yeah… we did." He said, folding his arms and staring at the device with a smile. "I will admit, if it wasn't for you developing that stabilizer, we never would have gotten this far."

"Thanks man." I had with another smile, leaning next to him and putting my hand on his opposite shoulder. We both stared at the device as everyone else in our twelve person team rejoiced in their own ways. Dr. Hauffman said that we would have to have an official party in the near future to properly celebrate this accomplishment.

With any luck, this could propel humanity to the future.

…

Area 51, October 11th, 3:22 PM, 2023

…

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…" I remarked bitterly, staring blankly at the finger of scotch I poured into my glass. Tears rolled from my eye sockets once more as I got lost in my own thoughts. Not even the best scotch in the United States could improve my mood right now.

I felt like a puppet on strings by this point. I had just learned that my father had passed away on my birthday of all times. He died in his sleep next to my mother two days ago, and only now did the "higher-ups" decide to tell me. What was worse is that the bastards wouldn't even give me leave to go to the funeral. All they would give me was the day off.

I kicked one of my chairs out of pure frustration, sending it flying into a wall. I slammed my back into the wall and let myself slide down, landing me on the floor. I let out a loud sob as I brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

I heard a knocking sound on my door, causing me to look up for a second.

"I told you people to fuck off and leave me alone!" I shouted through tears, before pulling my head back down.

"_It's not the… the director, it's me._" I heard a familiar voice proclaim, as I took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down slightly.

"Come in." I said weakly, as the door slid open and Dan came inside.

"I just heard what happened." Dan said, picking up the chair I had kicked and sitting in it.

"I'll also assume you heard they won't give me leave to go to the funeral." I remarked bitterly, wiping the tears from my face. "Bastards."

Dan didn't know what to say, and I could tell he was trying hard to think of something. Dan was a good friend, but he was as emotionally dead as they come. Despite this drawback, Dan still acted like a kid a lot of the time. He looked at many things he was unfamiliar with through a narrow scope, and that could be quite the disadvantage at times.

I never regretted convincing him to not join the military, I don't think he would have done well being under the command of someone else. I'm pretty sure his mother and sister were happy with his decision as well.

"I know this is hard for you, but..." He began slowly, stopping in the middle of his sentence to try and find the right thing to say. He never did think of anything to finish off that statement.

"Don't worry yourself over it." I said, picking myself off of the floor and grabbing the other chair. "I'll deal with this my own way."

"How?" He asked, leaning forward on his elbows.

"By getting piss drunk, that's how." I declared, taking the glass of scotch I had poured and downing it all in one gulp. It burned slightly on the way down my throat, but it was too sore already to feel most of it.

"I didn't know you drank." He replied with surprise in his voice.

"I do now." I said with a small smile, grabbing another glass and putting on the table next to him. "And you are going to join me."

"Sean, I told you… told you I don't drink." He declined, pushing the glass away.

"Come on, it's the least you can do for me on my birthday." I urged, pouring a finger into his glass. "Especially with everything that's happened lately…"

He stared between me and the glass for ten seconds before he finally made his decision.

"Fine, just this once." He finally agreed, picking up the glass and raising it to me. "To your father."

"To my father." I mimicked, taking note of his thoughtfulness as we both downed the scotch at the same time. After downing it, Dan got a sour look on his face then began to cough.

"Heh… you'll get used to it." I chuckled, pouring him another finger. "Come on, we got to finish this bottle before I wise up and realize my mistake."

…

Area 51, October 13th, 4:22, 2023

…

Dan and I were working of the emitters inside the SDD. They needed to be recalibrated every time we tested the device, and that involved going inside the projection zone. We had pulled the power and shut down the generators, making sure there was no way for the device to get any main power. Dr. Apollo assured us that there was no way the device could activate. He was kind of weird, I didn't trust him.

"Dan, give me the calculator." I said with exhaustion prevalent in my voice. These calibrations were a bitch to properly input, and I had to make sure they were perfect. Any miscalculations could cause the wormholes to effectively "eat" the emitters, sending them god knows where.

"Sure thing." He agreed, handing the TI calculator to me. He didn't say anything about my deteriorating physique, but from his face I could tell he looked worried.

Unbeknownst to us, one of the generators somehow started back up again. Dr. Collins was supposed to be watching for any fluctuations, but he had fallen asleep in his chair.

"So, how's the family?" I asked, trying to break the ice with Dan who had just finished fixing the last emitter.

"Eh, they're alright." He replied slowly, standing back up. "I just heard my sister got accepted into Harvard, I'm hoping-"

He was suddenly cut off as the platform we were on began to descend, and the stabilizers rose from the floor. Dan and I were trapped inside the SDD, and the boot sequence was starting.

"Collins, what the fuck are you doing!" I yelled, causing him to fall out of his chair in surprise. He looked over at us with a horrified expression on his face.

"I didn't do anything! The generators somehow started back up!" He shouted, fumbling with his keys to unlock the emergency shutdown control. "God damn it!"

The stabilizers began to spin faster, and I could feel my skin tingling. The electrons in the air became faintly visible as the temperature inside the field dropped like a rock.

"Collins?" Dan said weakly, as we both began to shiver.

"I'm trying, I'm fucking trying!" He shouted, opening the panel and mashing the emergency shutdown button. "It's not working!"

The power levels continued to rise as spatial distortions became visible around the emitters, a tell-tale sign that a wormhole was about to form.

"Collins, we're about to get ripped to shreds in here if you don't do something!" I yelled, beginning to panic. The zone between the stabilizers and the wormhole was growing smaller and smaller by the second.

"There's nothing I can do! I can't shut it down!" Collins shouted, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry…"

My heart dropped as I looked up at Collins with an odd sense of pity filling the void.

"So, that's it then." I said with a defeatist tone, standing straighter. "Collins… can you do me a favor?

"Anything!" He immediately agreed, as electricity jumped between the stabilizer's rings.

"Tell my mother I love her." I asked, as the smell of ozone filled the air.

"I will, I promise." He said, tears pouring out of his eyes.

I turned around to face Dan, who had a similar look on his face.

"Well buddy, I guess this is it." I remarked, giving him a hug. "Thanks for being such a good friend."

"You… you're welcome." He replied softly, as we got sucked into the wormhole. I could feel myself black out as we crossed the threshold.

…

Unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown

…

I felt like one of those pieces of giant taffy that candy makers used to knead on those old fashioned hooks. I had no other thought in my head as I reeled back and emptied my stomach on the cold, metal surface I now laid upon. My throat burned like fire, and my head didn't feel much better.

My vision was blurred, everything hurt so much that I couldn't focus on any single thing around me. I tried to get up, but my legs felt like jelly.

My mind began racing as I waited for my body to re-adjust itself. What the hell happened? What caused the device to start back up? How did we survive?

The word "we" stuck to my mind as I remembered that Dan had gone through with me.

"Dan… can you hear me? Are you there?" I asked out loud, trying to open my eyes only to be greeted with a painful stinging sensation in my spinal cord.

"Yeah… I'm here." He replied softly, obviously in just as much pain. He then vomited just as I did. A clunking sound resonated as he hit the "ground" in exhaustion. "Are we… where are we?"

"I don't know." I groaned, rolling onto my left side.

The air smelled of metal, as opposed to the stony, concrete smell the facility at Area 51 had. We defiantly were not in the base, I could piece that much together.

My eyes began to work again, even if I could only see about three feet in front of my face. The floors were made of sheet metal, very well polished sheet metal. I managed to stand up, balancing myself against a wall made of similar material. Dan began to stand on his own as well, clutching his stomach.

"I don't like this…" He remarked, looking around with his own limited vision.

"Neither do I…" I agreed, gaining more and more vision as my body adjusted to the significant trauma it had just gone through. We were in some kind of metal hallway, it was filled with what looked like crates, but it was still hard to make out. The area was bathed in a mixture of red and white lights.

"It looks like some kind of alley as far as I can tell." I guessed, looking up and down the area. That's then I noticed a figure walking our way. "Hide quick, something is coming!"

Dan and I hid behind one of the crates, hoping that whatever was coming down the alley didn't notice us before. We watched as the creature stopped in the middle of the alley, opening up some sort of glowing device on its arm. It then took out what looked like a cigarette and lit it using said device.

The creature itself looked like some sort of avian, despite the lack of feathers. It had grayish, metallic skin and was wearing what looked like black and blue armor. It spoke some kind of odd language into the device, and had an odd "flange" effect to its speech.

Dan then bumped his foot into a cylinder of some sorts, causing a sharp bang noise. The creature flipped around to face us, drawing what looked like a gun. We both raised our arms in the air as the creature seemed to urge us out from behind the crate. We kept our arms raise at it tried communicating with us.

It didn't seem to want us dead, otherwise it probably would have shot us by now. I decided to try communicating with it.

"My friend and I don't understand what you are saying." I said, gesturing to try and get my point across. "English?"

To my surprise, it seemed to understand me. The creature gave me what I was guessing to be a confused look, then took two earbud-shaped devices out of a pouch on its armor. He then gestured for us to put them in our ears.

"-een a long time since I ran into somebody without their translators." The voice cleared up, turning into perfect English. "What the hell are you two doing wandering around down here without proper translation software? You'll end up getting yourselves killed."

"Um…" I stuttered, looking over at Dan, who looked just as shocked as I did. "We were kind of hoping you could tell us where here is."

The creature looked confused once again, obviously not understanding what we were trying to say.

"Are you two high or something?" The creature asked, taking out his arm device and flashing a light in my eyes. "Your pupils seem to be dilating properly…"

"Um, no sir." Dan replied, bringing the creature's attention to himself. "We're just lost… lost, can you please get us out of here?"

The creature leaned over and looked inquisitively at us once more, before straightening back up.

"Ah, I get it. You two must be new to the Citadel." It assumed, holstering its pistol. "I mean, look at you guys, no translation software, no omni-tools, and you're lost… It's obvious you two just got here."

"You would be correct, sir." I answered, trying to be as polite as possible. Besides, it's not like we were lying. We did just arrive here.

"Follow me, I'll help you two along." He said, motioning for us to follow him. We did as we were told, following him through a door on the other side of the alley and into what looked like some sort of long hallway.

"What's with those clothes?" The creature, which I was assuming from the voice was a he, asked us as we walked. "I've only seen ExoGeni employees wear those kinds of clothes."

"Um… we do work at ExoGeni." I lied, trying to end the conversation without making me or Dan sound too suspicious. We still had no idea in the slightest what was going on, and I didn't want to be caught with my pants down. "We were just transferred here."

"Well, I don't know why you would come down here without even the basic things needed to get around." He said, opening the door on the other end of the hallway to reveal a hub of some kind. "Well, from here you should be able to find your way around. If I were you two, I would wise up and buy some omni-tools."

He then gave us a piece of metal with the number 50 emitting from it.

"Seriously, get your bearings before someone a lot less nice runs into you guys." He warned, walking back the way we came.

"Ok, thanks for the help." Dan thanked meekly as we surveyed the area around us.

There were different creatures around us, some looked like hairless blue women with tentacles growing out of their heads, there were a few slender ones that had big, buggy eyes, and there were humans too! At least, they looked like humans. We still didn't talk to any of them, Dan and I weren't taking any chances until we had more data.

We needed to figure out where we were, what the date was, and anything else that could prove to be potentially important. Scientific minds don't operate well when there is a serious absence of usable information around them.

"Well, I guess we should take that… thing's advice and get some of these "omni-tools" that he kept talking about." I suggested, as we walked towards some sort of large window.

We thought we were just looking at an expansive city, but when we got the full picture, we saw that there were four more sections just like this one attached to some sort of ring. This place wasn't just a city, it was a massive space station.

"Oh my god." I remarked is astonishment, leaning on the edge of the railing.

"Wow." Dan exclaimed, folding his arms as the two of us stared out at the cityscape before us.

We both looked at each other with smiles on our faces.

Wherever we were, there was a lot for us to learn.

…

**A/N: This will hopefully be the beginning of something new for me, I've decided to create a Mass Effect story that doesn't shoehorn something stupid into the plot to get OC's into the story, while still being set in a whole other universe/timeline. It will focus slightly more on the scientific aspects of the Mass Effect universe, adding a little bit more context to a lot of the things around them. I hope I can write this story on a regular basis, but I can't guarantee that'll happen. Stay tuned.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism.**


	2. Displacement

…

"Everything is teetering on the edge of everything." (Spec Ops: The Line)

…

Unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown

Dr. Sean

…

After about ten minutes of following the signs, we finally found some kind of marketplace. There was an abundance of aliens here, more of the ones we saw earlier, but there were a few other ones as well. There was a pint-sized round kind that wheezed every few seconds, a huge one with large arms that spoke in a constant monotone, and what I could only describe as a floating jellyfish.

Dan had actually become excited as we walked through the marketplace, looking for a vendor that sold these "omni-tools". He had that wide-eyed look, the same look that he had when I got him hooked up with a custom computer back in high school. If he was happy, I was happy, but I didn't want him to go overboard. He has done that on more than one occasion.

We eventually found a vendor run by one of the round, suited creatures. According to the sign, he was selling these so-called "omni-tools."

"*wheeze* Hello, earth-clan. What are you looking for on this fine day? *wheeze*" The stout creature asked, looking up at us.

"Um, we're looking for new omni-tools, my old ones broke, and my friend is getting his first one." I said, looking at the small devices inside of the glass case.

"Oh, you have come at an opportune time, earth-clan! *wheeze* I just received a new shipment of the Nexus omni-tools, *wheeze* a simple, yet durable and versatile brand, depending on what customizations you have installed. *wheeze* What model would you like?" The creature explained, looking up at us with what I could only assume was anticipation.

"Um, just your baseline model, we don't have much money right now." I quickly said, holding my hand up.

"Very well, earth-clan." The creature agreed, looking on its computer. "Two of the Nexus tools will cost about 20 credits."

"Here you go." I agreed, taking the chip device the bird alien gave us and handing it to him.

"Thank you." He quickly confirmed, handing the chip back to me, along with two omni-tools.

"Um, if it isn't too much… much trouble, can you explain how to turn it on?" Dan asked, looking down at the creature inquisitively as he attached the device to his arm.

"Oh, it's quite simple. *wheeze* All you have to do is wave your arm like this." He demonstrated, holding his arm out at an angle. "You can customize what gestures do what with it, but the factory setting *wheeze* is to hold your arm up to your chest."

"Thank you." I thanked, as the two of us walked off.

I could tell that Dan was itching to try this out more than anything else, and I wasn't far behind. We found a secluded place to get our bearings, turning on the devices and going through them. Despite it being a three-dimensional interface, it was surprisingly easy to wrap my head around.

I wasted no time figuring out the basics. All I cared about was the time and date. With any luck, they used conventional dating like we did back on Earth.

2180\. That number ran through my mind like a bucket of water. I did a double take, making sure it was right. Surely enough, it was 2180. Oddly enough, not only was it 2180, but it was October 13th as well, the time matching my wristwatch perfectly.

I leaned against the wall, taking this all in. The date would suggest we had gone forward in time, but there was still no way to determine if this was still the same dimension. Maybe if I could get my hands on better information…

My thoughts were immediately cut off as two of the "turian" aliens walked towards us. They didn't look very friendly, to say the least.

"Those are some nice omni-tools you got there, humans." One of them remarked sarcastically with what I was assuming to be a smile. They were wearing rough looking clothes, and one had dried blood on the corner of his collar.

"Why don't you hand those over and we can all be on our way?" The other one threatened, as they both pulled knives and inched closer to us.

Great, we were getting mugged.

"We're not giving you shit, turian." Dan replied as his tone changed. He pulled two of his pocket knives out, throwing me one of them.

My heart filled with dread as I recognized what was happening to him. Dan was having one of his episodes. While I recognized the situation, Dan was… incredibly dangerous whenever this happened.

"Sean, British police, left." Dan ordered in code, perfectly understandable to me. I understood the situation, but I wasn't going to stab anyone.

After the turians moved into range, I leaped towards the turian's legs as Dan dashed forward. I knocked the turian straight onto his back, effectively knocking the air out of him and causing him to drop his knife as a side benefit. I then flipped over, getting on top of the turian before he could get back up. I unleashed a flurry of punches on the turian's face as he clawed at my lab coat. I must have hit something important, because I eventually knocked him out, his body going limp. I stood up, stuck in an almost trace-like state as I could feel my chest thump up and down.

Only then did I look over at Dan, who had handled the situation way worse than I had.

He killed it. He fucking killed the turian.

Dan sat there on his knees, staring at body. His knife was stained, and bluish blood gushed from the turian's chest where Dan had stabbed him several times.

"Dan!" I shouted, shaking him out of his trance. "Come on, we have to go."

Dan silently obliged, nodding as I helped him back up. I swiped a 345 credit chit from the turian I had knocked out and we left the scene, going as far away from that place as we could.

…

The Citadel, October 13th, 6:45 PM, 2180

…

Dan and I sat silently at a human-run café, drinking cups of coffee. Well, at least I was. Dan stared at his cup blankly, keeping his hands folded under the table as I ordered a third cup. I couldn't even imagine what must have been going through his mind. I tried a few times to get him to speak up, but he wouldn't relent.

"Come on, drink your coffee. It'll make you feel better." I urged, trying to get some kind of response out of him. All he did was close his eyes as moisture formed around his eyelids. "Come on, Dan, don't do that here."

"I don't… they…" He tried to say, as he laid his head on the table and sobbed quietly.

I sighed, knowing there was nothing more I could do. I silently drank my coffee as I let him vent. I began going over the implications of this in my head, thinking of possible defenses for ourselves if these "C-Sec" people found out who had killed that turian mugger. The most obvious was self-defense, but then you have fleeing a crime scene, which probably didn't look to good to outsiders.

I have upped our odds internally, confident in the thought that we were safe. It's was highly unlikely that C-Sec had any of our information, especially if this was a different dimension. I tried to reassure Dan that we would be alright, but I think he was still too shell shocked at the time to even listen to what I was saying.

The waiter filled my cup again, as a thought flashed through my head.

"Excuse me, do you know if there are any cheap apartments for rent around here?" I asked, knowing that we would surely need a place to stay.

"Hm… there are the Fiji Apartments down the street owned by Jin Kysaki." She answered, pausing as she thought about it. "His place is pretty cheap, about 90 credits a week."

"Thank you." I said, as she walked off to serve her other customers. "Fiji Apartments…"

"Sounds like we'll need…need to acquire a source of income." Dan remarked, causing me to flip around to face him again. He already looked better, though his eyes were still red from all the tears. He was holding the coffee cup with both hands by the sides, taking small sips.

"Are you alright?" I asked now that he was responding to what was going on around him. "You seemed really out of it for a while there."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." He reassured, holding his hand up to stop me. "So, we're going to need income."

"Yeah, it looks that way." I agreed, scratching the stubble on my chin. "My thought is we take a break, go out on a search tomorrow, then…"

"Then what?" Dan asked while dumping packets of sugar into his coffee, wanting to hear the end of the sentence.

"I don't know." I answered with honesty, picking up my coffee and taking a big gulp. "I don't have the slightest clue what to do. All these races seem to have intelligence similar to us… if we start going up to people and start blabbing about how a wormhole dumped us here, we'll be committed to a mental institution before we know it."

"You have a good point." Dan agreed, mixing his coffee with a small metal spoon. "What if we approached this…Alliance? They might believe us."

"I don't know, I don't know…" I said in frustration, rubbing my temple. "I think we should just lay low for a while, see if anything else happens."

"I suppose…suppose so." Dan gave in, drinking all his coffee in one swig.

"Let's pay up and leave, I need to get my mind off of this." I urged, as the both of us got up, paid, and left for the Fiji Apartments.

…

The Citadel, October 13th, 7:21 PM, 2180

…

This place, the Citadel... it really was amazing the more you looked at it. As far as I could tell without actually looking it up, the place was at least comparable to five New York Cities strapped to a giant ring.

We stopped inside of a convenience store, buying some food. We had decided that we were going to hole up inside of an apartment until further notice. We needed to gather information, process it, and use it to find out just what the hell happened to us.

After a long walk, we eventually found the Fiji Apartments. I had to admit, I was not impressed in the slightest. The place looked like a slightly more futuristic, run-down Miami motel. Still, I don't think it really mattered to us at this point, the woman at the Café was right. This place was cheap.

We paid the owner 90 credits for the week and dragged ourselves up to Room #7. It was an OK size, but it only had one bed. I was thinking the same thing Dan was thinking.

"I am not sharing that bed with you." Dan said before I could, completely serious in his tone.

"I'll flip you for it." I offered, pulling out my 1995 quarter.

"I call heads." Dan agreed, as I flicked it into the air. It landed on the floor, still spinning on its own. After spinning for about eight more seconds, it did something I hadn't expected it to do.

It stopped on its side. Neither head nor tails win in that regard.

I looked over at Dan and let out a loud sigh.

Damn coin.

…

I was sitting on my front porch, quietly staring out at the sunset in the distance through the trees. It was always a beautiful sight this time of the day. I was still wearing my robes from graduation, and I clutched my mortarboard and high school diploma tightly in both hands. I closed my eyes as I felt the wind blow gently past me, thinking about everything that had led up to this moment.

The silence was broken when my father came out onto the porch, looking at the sunset before taking a seat next to me. My dad was an imposing man without the police training, even when he was happy. He had steel-colored hair and awesome facial hair that I always dreamed of emulating since I was a kid. We were both quiet for a few seconds before he spoke up.

"There were sure a lot of people in there, huh?" He remarked casually, his hands folded as he looked over at me.

"Yeah, hundreds." I agreed, thinking back to that auditorium at UMBC. "I'm surprised so many people managed to fit in there."

"It took a while, but your mother and I eventually spotted you." He said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "You have no idea how proud your mother and I are."

I simply smiled, as he hugged me tighter with his arm. "When you walked onto that stage and got your diploma, your mother began to cry she was so happy."

"I know, Dad." I replied, having looked up at my mother at the time to see her wiping off her face with a tissue. "I told you I would do better. I told you I would get through this."

"And you did." He said with pride, giving me a big hug. "Here, take this."

He handed me a ring that had a brilliant sapphire gemstone in the center of it. On one side it had the year 1978 engraved, and the other it said Curtis Bay High School.

"That's my class ring from when I graduated high school." He explained as I stared at the ring. "I want you to have it."

"But Dad, this is yours." I protested, confused by his gesture.

"It's time for me to pass it on." He said with a smile wide on his face as he looked at my hand. "One day you'll give your ring to your son."

I smiled, thinking about how much my parents wanted me to have kids one day.

The air suddenly got much colder, as the sky darkened around me and rain began to fall. I looked over at my dad only to see he was gone. I stood up just as two faceless paramedics carried a covered stretcher out the front door, followed by my mom who was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Dad? DAD!" I shouted as I dashed over to the paramedics who were loading him into the ambulance. The sidewalk grew longer as I ran faster, trying to stop them from taking my father away.

I fell down on the edge of the sidewalk as they sped away, unable to stop them. I laid there, crying out in agony as the world collapsed around me.

…

I let out a sharp gasp as I woke up, looking around to see the apartment Dan and I had purchased. I sighed, annoyed but silently thankful that I was just having another bad dream. I looked at my hand making sure my father's ring was still there. Sure enough, the sapphire sheen put my fears to rest.

I laid on the very edge of the bed, trying to avoid all contact with my "bedmate." Luckily, there were separate blankets, so we didn't have to worry about sharing that. I looked at the bedside clock, seeing it was 6:44 AM. I let out a small groan, knowing that it would be near impossible to go back to sleep with Dan making sounds comparable to that of a locomotive.

I slowly got up, entering the small bathroom. It had actually been the first time since my birthday I had taken a good look at myself in a mirror, and I immediately regretted it. I looked like shit. My hair was unkempt and oily, my face was covered in stubble, and I had large bags underneath my eyes. I was actually slightly repulsed by my condition, and wondered why Dan hadn't said anything about it.

I winced in pain, looking down at the knuckles on my right hand. The skin had broken on the index and middle knuckles, and the rest of them were turning various shades of purple and yellow. My father's old ring might have helped out too, considering how pointy the gemstone was.

Those turians had hard faces, but nothing stops the kinetic force of the punch. I thought back to high school when I had gotten into two different fights in the same week. The first happened on a Tuesday, when some idiot in the back of the class thought it was funny to throw a foam ball at the backs of people's heads while they typed. After it hit me for the second time I picked it up and spit on it, throwing it in the trash. The little guy didn't like me ruining the fun and decided to sucker punch me in the back of the head while I was walking to my next class.

He didn't last long after that. Being both taller and stronger than him, I clocked him twice in the face before a teacher came and broke it up. That fight was… really satisfying, to be painfully and brutally honest. I wish I could say the same about the second fight that week.

That fight occurred on Friday, and during our last period of the day of all things. This fight, unlike the last one, had been brewing over a long drawn-out period. This guy and I hated each other, and were about matched in terms of strength and height. When I made a comment about how shit he was in the class that was the end of the line for him.

While I worked on my geology paper, he snuck up behind me and punched me hard in the side of the head, knocking my brain to the side and my whole body out of the chair. He then pinned me to the ground, punching me hard several times in the face before the teachers could pull the bastard off of me.

I had one hell of a bruise the next week. I instinctively rubbed the side of my head, remembering the pain afterwards.

I actually chuckled at that, despite how negative the memory was. I always found the human body interesting in how it reacts to blunt-force trauma. Initially during the fight, all I felt was something hitting my face, then my face just felt warm. Only ten minutes after the fight had ended did I start feeling any actual pain. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

I smiled slightly, looking at the scar on my left cheek. I locked the door to the bathroom, taking off my clothes and hopping in the shower. The shower was one of the few good things in this place, it ran nice and hot. I sighed, letting the steaming water run down my face as I stress rolled off my shoulders.

"_My nightmares are getting worse._" I thought to myself, opening up my eyes and staring down at the drain. I thought back to it again, realizing how vivid it was. "_I need to get my head back where it belongs._"

I shut off the water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I looked in the mirror, pondering the stubble on my face. I took the knife Dan had given me, checking its sharpness. I found it satisfactory, and used it to carefully shave my neck and face. I decided to leave the goatee, discovering I liked it and would let it grow. I lazily "combed" back my hair with my hands as I put my lab coat back on. I plucked off my ID and tossed it in my pocket, knowing an Area 51 ID might look suspicious to the average passerby.

I left the bathroom to see Dan sitting on the edge of the bed, looking intently through the Codex on his omni-tool. He was so immersed that he didn't even notice me come out of the bathroom.

"They offer room service here?" I asked indirectly, looking around the room again. Dan flipped around to face me with slight surprise. "Scratch that, the food is likely similar to the condition of the rooms."

"Heh, maybe so." He replied with a smile, turning back to his omni-tool. "I'm thinking I'm going to sit here and see how much of this information I can absorb."

"You and I think a lot like one another." I quoted from our first meeting back in high school, sitting on the lone chair that was in the room. Just as I opened my omni-tool, something shattered the window and landed on the floor. I barely had enough time to see what it was.

A flashbang.

Dan and I yelled in pain as it went off a split second later, blinding and deafening both of us. Within seconds, I could feel my center of balance immediately shift as I was shoved to the floor. Plastic handcuffs were thrown on, and I was pulled back to my feet just as my vision cleared up.

Dan and I went without protest with these people, whoever they were. They were all humanoid, heavily armed and wearing full black armor suits. Dan couldn't do anything to them if he tried. They carried us into their shuttlecraft and secured us to the seats as they sped off as quickly as they had arrived.

"You motherfuckers, what do you want with us?" Dan asked, fury dripping from his words.

None of them replied, making me angrier than I already was.

"Hey asshole, I'd be nice if you told me why you had to flash me and my partner here." I said, trying to gauge a reaction from the silent figures.

Instead, one of the armored figures took out a syringe and stuck me in the neck, much to my extreme discomfort. Spots began to form in my vision as everything got blurry and I passed out.

…

Unknown, October 14th, unknown, 2180

…

I began to stir, unable to properly focus on any single thing around me. I could tell that we were in some kind of small room with a large metal table, I had some kind of heavy metal cuffs on in front of me. Dan was sitting next to me, half dozed off and half-conscious as he rolled his head around.

I looked at the room, it looked like an interrogation room of some sort. To our left was a large one-way window, and above us was a barely noticeable camera.

"Hey, wake up!" I said out loud, elbowing Dan in his ribs. That got him up.

"Ugh… where did…did we end up this time?" He asked, whatever serum they had given us still wearing off for him. He looked down at his hands in confusion. "I don't remember these."

"Wake up, you klutz!" I yelled, as his eyes opened all the way.

"Damn it…" He exclaimed in annoyance at our current situation, pulling his head back and taking a deep breath. "First the muggers, now some kind of paramilitaries… I seriously hope… hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence."

"You're right, I seriously don't want getting sucked into wormholes to become a regular occurrence." I shot back, taking the piss out of him.

"Forget I said anything then." He said with finality, looking at my cuffs for a minute. "I don't think a bobby pin is going to do the job for these things."

"Is that your educated opinion, Dan?" I continued, emitting a weak smile. "This has to be some sort of intimidation tactic, I'm sure of it."

"If they're waiting for us to starve to death, I'm well on the right track." Dan complained as his stomach growled.

"Quit your belly-aching, I think I hear someone coming." I quickly refocused, as someone could be heard on the other side of the door.

The door slid open, revealing a woman wearing some kind of blue dress uniform with gold trimmings. She had black hair that was tied into a bun, and had skin paler than Dan's. That last one alone scared me more than it should have.

"Hello gentlemen." She greeted, sitting down in front of us as the door behind her slid shut. She placed a worn manila folder on the table as she folded her hands. "My name is Lynda Embry, and I'm here to debrief you two and offer you a job."

…

**A/N: Cliffhangers, you gotta love them. The story is progressing well so far, and I already have a full synopsis set up for the story. It's bare on details, so I can still keep it interesting as the story goes on.**

**I'd like to thank all the people who faved and put my story on their watch lists, It makes me extremely happy knowing there are people out there who are already interested in my story. Also, special thanks go out to everyone who posted a review, I always enjoy reading them.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.**


	3. Microcosm

…

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. (Albert Einstein)

…

Unknown, October 14th, unknown, 2180

…

That last name… that last name hung in my head as my brain connected the dots. While there was a severe lack of information regarding our current situation, I finally discovered were we went. We went to the future.

"Embry…" I said out loud, letting a smile creep onto my face. "It doesn't matter how anyone spins it, the world is a small place. You must be Markus' great-great granddaughter or something along those lines."

"You would be correct. I happened to be the perfect correspondent for this event." She confirmed, looking at us and snapping her fingers. The metal cuffs that had our hands restrained deactivated, giving us freedom once again. "I imagine you two have a lot of questions."

"That is… a gross oversimplification." Dan remarked, running his hand through his hair.

That was putting it very lightly.

"Yeah, I'll bite." I started, leaning forward on the table. "Who are you people?"

"We are the Special Projects Division of the Alliance, otherwise known as the SPD." She began, handing us a paper with a modified Alliance logo. "Officially, we don't exist, though the admirals are aware of our work. We do said work away from prying eyes and slowly introduce our innovations to the Alliance as they are needed."

"How did you find us?" Dan blurted out as she finished talking, nervously wringing his hands together. "Out of all the places to look on that massive station-"

"The tracking chips on the backs of your necks still work properly, you know." She explained with a deadpan, as I instinctively felt where my neck met the back of my head. "DARPA never stopped scanning for your frequencies, and they eventually carried over to the SPD. Due to the nature of your disappearances, we decided not to take any chances in case you two somehow appeared again."

"Those must be… be some strong little chips." Dan remarked, cracking a weak smile as he rubbed the back of his neck as well.

"Was the squad of commandos really necessary?" I asked, redirecting Lynda's attention.

"You have to understand… you two are still listed as Level 5 assets." She said, pausing for effect. "It doesn't matter what time period it is, you two were and still are the smartest people to have ever worked in Area 51. The moment we picked up your signal, we knew we needed to retrieve you before anything happened to you."

I scoffed at that last part. "That's all well and good, but being flashed, cuffed, and drugged seems a bit… what's the work I'm looking for, Dan?"

"Excessive." He answered in a deadpan, crossing his arms.

Lynda shot us an unamused look, as she tapped the manila folder on the table.

"Fine, forget it, it's in the past now." I finished, dropping the topic. "So, what happened to the SDD after we went through the portal?"

"The Spatial Distortion Device…" She started, handing me a report out of the folder. "…blew up, putting it in layman terms. Specifically, the argon cooling system failed due to an attempted shutdown, and the core went critical shortly after as a result."

Dan and I leaned back, both of us immediately distraught by the sudden news. That was three and a half years of our lives and four decades of accumulative work… down the fucking drain.

"I'm sorry, I understand a lot of hard work, time, and money went into that device." She said with some sympathy in her voice.

"Ugh… I don't feel so good." I groaned, clutching my head as a headache began to form. "Can I get some water?

"Same here." Dan added, arms and head folded on the edge of the table.

"Sure." She agreed, walking over to a table in the corner and pouring us both glasses. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before Dan started the conversation back up.

"I have a ques… question I've been meaning to ask." Dan chimed back in, as I could see the metaphoric lightbulb flash over his head. "Did they ever figure out wha… what caused the power to come back on?"

"It's funny you should mention that." She remarked, taking a paper out that was similar to the one on the SDD, though this one was about something called "Resonite."

"Back in the 1950's, the US military discovered a meteorite in the Mohave Desert composed of and odd material." She explained, handing us several photographs. "This element was not natural to the earth, and had strange properties. Today, it is known more commonly as Element Zero."

"OK, but I still don't follow." Dan said, staring at the paper. "What does this have to do with the power?"

"The day of the accident, a different group in the base was running an experiment on a sample of Eezo. They had phenomenal results in power generation, but they neglected to disconnect their landline to the rest of the base." She further explained, as I put the pieces together. "At that point, anything connected to the base's main landline experienced a sudden power surge, including your SDD."

Dan and I looked at each other, knowing we had heard enough.

"OK… so what happens next?" I asked, leaning towards her with my arms folded. "Your SPD is just a reincarnation of the people at Area 51, so what does that mean for us?"

"I'm going to extend an offer for you two to work in the Special Projects Division." Lynda said with a smile, handing us both data pads. They listed updated personal information, history, credentials… it was actually surprising how in-depth it was.

"We'll sort out your personal information, give you all the funding you need, and provide you with the most competent staff the Alliance has to offer." She continued, folding her hands on the table. "I'll give you two some time to make a decision."

Dan and I sat there in thought for what felt like hours, debating whether or not to accept Lynda's generous offer. After going over everything, we made our decision.

"We'll join the Special Tasks Group, but under two conditions." I explained as she walked back into the room and took a seat.

"What would they be?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"First, we would like to have access to regular vacation days." I started, looking her straight in the eyes. "Area 51 was fucking horrible when it came to vacation, and it cost me… something valuable."

"You don't have to worry about that, every month our scientists have the option to take a week of leave on Earth." She reassured, shifting in her seat. "What is your second condition?"

"We'd like to have full access to all our work. Paper, electronic documents, anything we worked on." I stated, holding the documents she had given us to add emphasis.

"That's no problem whatsoever, though you will have to give us time to take it all out of storage." She agreed, looking at the two of us with a smile.

With our conditions met, we stood up and shook hands with her, feeling good about our decision.

"Welcome to the Special Projects Division, gentlemen." She said, as we all nodded to one another. "I'm sure there are plenty of things we can learn from you two."

"Where will our research be done?" Dan asked, clutching his updated information tightly in one hand.

"Follow me." She answered, leading us out the door and into a long hallway. To our sides were the same helmeted commandos that had abducted us back on the Citadel.

"Try not to be so rough next time, buddy." I said with a slight smirk, patting him on the armored soldier. He stayed silent and didn't move, telling me subconsciously that I should keep moving.

We followed her through the ship, going past several living quarters and what looked like an armory. It was getting very interesting around here, there were so many possibilities with the few things I have seen alone.

Personally, I was very interested in the possible applications of this "eezo" stuff. It had some amazing properties from the little things I had seen. I already had an idea in my head of how to harness the static buildup that came from these eezo drive cores, but I would need to do more research into fusion before anything would come of that.

We entered what could only have been the bridge of the ship, lots of crew at their stations along with bright holographic displays covering the majority of surfaces. We walked to the very edge of the bridge, where we looked out at the dark side of a planetoid.

"So, where are we?" I asked, staring at the edges of the planet.

"We are nearing Mercury. Your new workplace is a lovely space station orbiting the dark side of the planet called Aldrin Station." She explained with another smile, as something small could barely be seen off in the distance. "This is where most work is done, though we have small facilities on the surface for testing weapons and such."

Just as she finished, we finally spotted the station. It looked vaguely like a big knife pointing downwards, but it had a lot of other sections and modules attached to the center body. It looked a little haphazard in design, but that was likely due to retrofits or upgrades of some kind.

"Task Force Cerebellum is based here at Aldrin Station, and everything they; or should I say you two work on here is classified as top secret." Lynda explained as the ship turned towards port. "We are putting you two on leave for a week so you can get properly acclimatized. Once your leave is over, you will be given your own lab space and any other assistance you require."

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed, crossing my hands behind my back.

"_SSV Nautilus, your arrival is scheduled. Please transmit access codes and authorization phrase._" Docking control radioed in, an operator appearing on one of the larger monitors.

"I could give you the codes, but then I'd have to kill you." Lynda replied with a deadpan, tapping a few commands into her datapad.

"_Welcome back, Major._" The operator greeted with a small smile and a salute. "_Codes received. Docking cradle four is ready for you and the new arrivals._"

"Thank you. Have the project leads drop what they're doing and meet us in the atrium." Lynda ordered, crossing her arms. "There are some introductions to be made."

"_Yes ma'am_." The operator finished, his image disappearing from the main screen.

"This is a lot to take in." Dan exhaled, as we got close to the station. Odd looking clamps of some sort extended out of the station towards the ship.

"We'll figure it out, don't worry." I encouraged, as a muffled thump could be heard vibrating through the ship. We must have been secured to the station.

We continued to follow Lynda, going back the way we came and walking into a larger room filled EVA suits and a larger door. That must have been the airlock. It opened up, revealing a long tube that stretched all the way out, linking both sides. Lynda's datapad beeped as we walked across, causing us all to pause as she read it.

"Excellent." She said, turning around to face us. "I've just gotten word that your papers are all still intact. They should be here in a few days."

"That sounds great." Dan nodded, looking slightly more relieved. "Is there anything… anything specific you want us to work on once… once we go back to work?"

"Not really, but If something specific pops up you two will be the first to know." Lynda started as we entered a decon chamber. A mist that evaporated on contact showered down on us as an ultraviolet light scanned the three of us over. "From reading what I've been able to access, you two aren't just specialized in quantum mechanics."

"Yeah, we've dabbled in a lot of things." I confirmed, crossing my arms as the decon process went on and on. "Our work on quantum mechanics was what initially got us noticed by your great-great grandfather."

"I know, bless his soul." She replied, glancing over at me as the decon system ended. The door opened revealing an area filled with chairs, a security desk farther away, and more EVA suits in storage. It looked like a miniaturized airport terminal. Two guards were sitting back in light armor, drinking beverages before they spotted Lynda.

"Major Embry!" One of them quickly said, hopping into a salute after almost dropping their drink. "We didn't know you were coming today! I apologize for not being at my post."

"Calm down, corporal. I'm not here to do an inspection or anything." She eased down, as they relaxed slightly. "Actually, since you're here, tell Security that I need two new Level 5 IDs, and I need them sent to my office."

"Yes ma'am." The same trooper agreed, looking back at his buddy as they ran off.

My thoughts on the environment immediately dissipated as a hologram appeared on a pedestal off to our right. The image was a blue picture of a U.S. Marine from the war in Iraq with an AR-15 slung over his shoulder and night vision goggles attached to his helmet. What came next, I wasn't expecting at all.

"Hello doctors." The avatar said, looking at all of us and standing at attention. "My name is Powell. I'm the station's A.I., and I can assist you two with anything you need help with."

"Powell. Good to see you again." Lynda greeted, nodding at the avatar as I saw Dan's eyes light up.

"Likewise, ma'am." He returned, giving her a military salute.

"An A.I.? Fascinating." Dan remarked, walking over and rubbing his chin in sudden interest. "Powell… what would you think if I told you everything that I say is a lie?"

"Heh, it'll take more than the Liar's paradox to confuse me, doctor." He replied with a smile, focusing solely on Dan. "After all, I know that I know nothing at all."

"Socratic paradox. Classic." Dan named, smiling as he crossed his arms and stared down at Powell. "There are so many questions I want to ask right now…"

"Gentlemen, we have a meet-and-greet to attend to." Lynda redirected, ushering us towards a large pair of doors on the other side of the room. She opened it, revealing a large, circular atrium. This room was a sight to behold. There were rocks, trees, and even running water. What really surprised me was the feeling of sunlight on my face as I looked up at the artificial sky hanging above us. It had clouds going by, actually causing the room to get slightly darker whenever one blocked the "sun". It was impressive, to say the very least.

I almost hadn't noticed the five people gathered in the center of the room. The first one was a really old man who looked like he was at least in his eighties, holding a datapad and tapping on it furiously with his thin fingers. The second was a very tall man looking to be in his thirties with jet black hair, who stood at attention and talked to the woman next to him. The third was a young-looking woman with short, blond hair who looked rather pissed off as she spoke to the second man. Fourth was actually an asari with bright blue skin who stared up at the ceiling with a vacant look in her eyes. The last was a young man who had scruffy brown hair with obvious bed head about in his twenties, who stared intently as his omni-tool despite the sleepy look in his eyes.

They all turned to face us as we approached. We stopped just short of a few feet from the group, almost arm's length away.

"Project leads, I have called you all here today to meet our two new members." Lynda started, stepping aside to better let them see us. "Meet doctors Sean Michaels and Dan Nemo. They will be taking control of the new lab next week."

"Hello." I greeted with a weak smile, feeling a sudden heaviness in the air. I knew I was dealing with people who knew exactly what they were doing, and we barely even knew where we were.

"Sean, Dan, this is Dr. Windham, he's our resident expert on FTL travel." She began introducing, as the two of us shook hands with the old man. He had cold hands and didn't squeeze at all, denoting to me that he must have been… fragile.

"Nice to meet you two." He said with a teeth-filled smile. "I hope one of you two are good at chess."

"Ooh, don't…don't tempt me." Dan replied with a small smile, nodding at the good doctor.

"This is Dr. Vsevolod, he's our expert on military tech, specifically weapon systems." Lynda continued, as we shook hands with the tall man with jet black hair. He had a strong grip, and it was readily obvious that he was barely squeezing.

"Greetings." He replied calmly with what was either a Russian or Ukrainian accent, nodding at us. "I'll be seeing you two much in the future, ya?"

"Sounds like a plan." I acknowledged, as we turned to face the angry looking woman he was talking to.

"This is Dr. Ford, she's our expert in thermal projection." Lynda went on. Dr. Ford seemed very resistant to exchange handshakes, but she eventually agreed. She squeezed very quickly, letting go almost as quickly as she grasped my hand.

"I hope you two don't get in the way around here." She commented, looking at me and Dan with a distrustful look in her eyes.

"I'll certainly try not to step on anyone's toes, doctor." I shot back with a similar face.

Lynda rolled her eyes, moving on the asari.

"This is Dr. Winters, she is our expert on Element Zero applications." She said, as we all shook hands calmly. She had a warm pulse to her grip and it felt slightly rough, most likely having to do with her physiology.

"Winters? That's American, right?" I asked as we shook hands.

"Correct. My mother was married to a human man, Johnathan Winters. I took his surname after I left my mother's house." She happily explained, smiling at how knowledgeable I was.

"It'll be nice working with you." I finished, looking over at the last scientist.

"This is Dr. Karpyshyn. He heads the division on A.I. research." Lynda finished, as Karpyshyn gave us quick handshakes. I couldn't even get a feel for his grip he did it so quickly. I could see that he had band-aids all over his hands, which was odd, even by me and Dan's standards.

"So you're the… the one behind Powell?" Dan questioned, looking intently at Karpyshyn.

"Yes." He replied slowly, adjusting his hair so that it wouldn't hang in front of his glasses. "Powell is my magnum opus, and has gotten more intelligent by the day."

"I'm very inter- interested in him." Dan finished, straightening back up. "I'll talk to you later about him."

"Very well." Karpyshyn finished, looking back to his omni-tool. "Good day."

With that, everyone dispersed leaving Dan and I with Lynda.

"That went pretty well… barring Dr. Ford." I remarked, pulling off my ring and fiddling with it. "What's her problem?"

"Dr. Ford is… temperamental." She answered bluntly, crossing her arms and looking at the door she left the atrium through. "She didn't like the idea of two people being added to the Project Leads on such short notice."

"Well, she's needs to drop the attitude if we all want to work together." I remarked, getting slightly angry as I thought back to a few minutes ago.

"Give it time, Sean." Lynda reassured, as we walked to the far left side of the room.

We exited the Atrium, walking down a long hallway and into a waiting elevator. She punched in Floor 27, which was labeled "Residential."

"The full tour of the station will have to wait, I have other matters to attend to." Lynda said as the elevator shot upwards. "Your rooms are marked, and all your personal belongings have been brought there already."

She handed us both thumb-sized devices with small loops attached to them.

"These are your keys. Don't lose them, they are encoded to your rooms only. Good night, gentlemen." She finished as the doors opened, revealing a long hallway with windows on the celling revealing the stars. Other scientists walked around, either heading in into their rooms or going towards another destinations.

With that, we stepped out and she closed the doors, leaving us there by ourselves for the first time we regained consciousness.

"Well this has certainly been a very interesting day." I commented with a little bit of humor. "I'll see you later, man."

"Yeah… I guess I'll go find my room." Dan said, wandering down the opposite hallway from where my room was supposed to be.

With that, I walked down the hallway, finding the room listed with my whole name. I inserted the device into the slot next to the panel, opening the door with a light hiss.

Inside, I switched on the lights revealing a rather large and… almost luxurious room. It was about 8x20 yards just from eyeballing it. There was a small living room area with a full leather couch and entertainment system, a kitchen with all the utilities, a bedroom with a queen-size, and a full bathroom.

In essence, it was the ultimate bachelor pad.

The coffee table in the living room had a box filled with my things inside of it. I sat down on the cozy couch to go through the box to make sure everything was here.

"Nexus omni-tool… check. Sony Walkman Mp3 player… check. Wallet… check. Dan's knife… hehe, check." I named off, putting each item on the table as I went. "Watch… check. Useless keys… check. 300 credits… check."

I looked at everything, only now noticing how hungry I actually was. I stood up and walked over to the kitchen, looking at the text that someone had left on the refrigerator's display.

"_Note: if you want something that isn't here, put through a request with requisitions and they'll get it for you in about two days._" The note read, scrolling down the screen. I opened the fridge, actually impressed with the variety of things that were here. Luckily, they had the one thing I really wanted.

Pepsi.

I took the can off the shelf, leaving eleven more on the rack inside. I then occupied myself checking the cupboards, finding cereal, bread, tuna, and a few other things I didn't even recognize.

I elected to just make a PBJ sandwich, wanting nothing more than just to curb my hunger. I sat down on the couch, turning on the television to see what they had around here. Unfortunately, like so many years ago back on earth there was jack shit despite the volume of channels. I shut it off, turning back to my omni-tool.

I looked inside to see that all the music that was on my Walkman had been transferred to my omni-tool. I expelled any questions about how that happened and instead turned on Hotel California by The Eagles. I transferred the signal to the speakers in the room, getting full surround sound much to my joy.

I sat there for the next six minutes, munching on my sandwich as the song ran its course. It was the first truly serine moment I had actually had in a long time, and I savored every moment of it.

"_You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…_" I said along with the song, nodding my head along with the music with my eyes closed.

After it had ended, I looked at the clock and discovered that it was 10:11 at night. I walked into the bedroom and took off my lab coat, throwing it on the floor as I undid my belt and pulled off my pants. I let myself fall onto the bed, and immediately fell asleep.

…

**A/N: It took a while for me to write this one, I had to revise several parts more than once to make sure everything flowed correctly, and I'm neck-deep in college papers. My spring semester is quickly coming to an end, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to focus more on writing.**

**The pace of the story will likely pick up from here now that the characters and setting are established. Like I've said before, If anyone has any suggestions for the story just tell me in a review or PM and I'll reply to it as quickly as I can.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.**


	4. Eccentricity

...

"Good thinking, little buddy." (Sam &amp; Max)

…

Aldrin Station, October 16th, 8:02 AM, 2180

…

I sat on the edge of my couch, focused intently on the datapad in front of me. I got a pained pulse in my back again, and just at the right time too.

I yawned, screeching my arms out as I tried to get the knot out of my back. Afterwards, I picked my coffee up, taking a swig of the Eight O'Clock Original I had just made. I actually smiled as I looked at the clock, only now realizing the irony. I looked back to the datapad to my side, picking up and resuming my reading for the morning.

The three days me and Dan had been here so far were supposed to be simple "catch up" days, but I was already brewing up grand ideas in my head. My eyes wandered away from my datapad and around my room. I was quite satisfied with how personalized it now was.

Yesterday Dan and I had finally gotten all of our research papers back, and I was rather pleased with the condition they were all in. What had surprised me was the fact that not only had they preserved our papers, but all our personal items from Area 51 as well. I had spent the better half of yesterday just decorating my quarters with my old stuff, including but not limited to my posters, my Saturn V model, my book collection, and my personal pictures.

I focused once more on each one of the items, starting with the photos. Taking in the memory of each one, I smiled. From left to right was a photo of me and Dan celebrating shortly after graduation high school, my parents and I standing in front of our house, my three Labrador Retrievers, and finally a picture my dad had taken of me when he took me to a gun range for the first time. They all made my heart swell.

I had a limited variety of posters, to say the least. Most of them were either technical drawings or video game posters, but that was just fine by me. My favorite poster was one that one of my father's buddies from the police department had given me. It was a poster of the German Tiger I from WWII, one of my favorite tanks. If I had to choose a second favorite, it would have to be a technical cutout of a Glock 17. As far as videogame posters go, I had a big one of Master Chief from Halo 3, one of my favorite games in the series. The runner-up was a map of the DC Wasteland from Fallout 3.

The Saturn V rocket model was a personal favorite of mine, a gift from my parents on my 20th birthday. It was three-quarters my height, extremely detailed, and even included the launch tower. It filled the dead corner of my living room nicely, giving it that much needed "homely" feeling. The books filled the shelf behind my couch, adding a large variety of colors to the wall. Any space that was left on the shelf was dominated by any other knick-knacks of mine, including my VERY vintage unopened bottle of Coke from the 1983 Orioles World Championship Season. It was worth about twenty bucks back in 2023, but now… It could be worth hundreds for all I know.

I shook my head, turning back to my coffee and datapad. I needed to keep reading up on eezo if I was going to make an educated proposal to Dan for this device I had thought up.

That's when I remembered that I need my papers on fusion.

I jumped off the couch, running into my bedroom and opening up the binders of papers I had in an attempt to find my fusion work, but ironically enough I could not seem to locate it.

Sighing in sudden frustration, I opened up my omni-tool, calling Dan. Even though I was about 98% sure that he was still sleeping, I still needed those papers and I needed them soon. About thirty seconds later, I got a connection.

"_Ugh… what do you need, Sean?_" A groggy Dan asked, obviously annoyed that I interrupted his sleep. "_You know I don't like to get up until McDonalds stops serving breakfast._"

"Oh, and here I though you liked Egg McMuffins." I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes at Dan's ridiculous concept for optimum sleep. "But seriously, I called you because I can't find my notes on fusion. I think they might have been mixed up with yours."

"_You called me at 8:08 AM to ask…ask for notes on fusion?_" Dan said with some disbelief evident in his distorted voice. "_What the hell…fine, I'll ta…take a look in about… half an hour, I guess._"

"I wouldn't want to jolt you out of your beauty sleep too quickly, your highness." I mocked, knowing that talking to him this time in the morning was about the same as talking to a brick wall.

"_Fuck you._" He replied quickly, hanging up on me. I had to smile, it wasn't very often I got Dan to drop the f-bomb outside of one of his episodes. He likely wouldn't even remember it, knowing Dan would be in zombie mode for about the next half an hour after he wakes up.

I looked back to the info I had on eezo, checking over the after-effects again. Sure enough, applying a charge to an eezo core produces static electricity, which, if not discharged into a planetary field, could fry the ship. The way they just discarded the static buildup seemed depressingly wasteful in my eyes.

After waiting for about forty minutes, Dan finally showed up, clutching a binder under his arm, a coffee mug in the other, and a piece of toast hung out of his mouth haphazardly.

"This must be something good if you wanted these notes so badly." He remarked with bitterness still evident in his voice. He stopped and looked around, nodding in approval at my personalization. Then he looked at me.

"Are you alright? You look… look like you barely got any sleep." Dan questioned, suddenly sounding worried.

"I'm fine, sit down. I think I might be on to something here." I started, opening up the binders and looking for the notes pertaining to static electricity. "You know how static buildup forms when an eezo drive core is being used, right?"

"Yeah, it needs to be discharged on the ground or in a planetary field otherwise the buildup will eventually discharge by itself and fry the crew." Dan confirmed, sitting down next to me on the couch as he took another bit out of his toast. "Why?"

"I had an epiphany last night while doing some research. Remember the Fusor method of inertial electrostatic confinement?" I asked, trying to string him along so I could see his reaction to my idea.

"Yeah, it uses a… an electric field to heat ions to fusion conditi…ooooh." Dan started to say, before his jaw dropped slightly in acknowledgement of what my idea now was.

"That's right. If we were to harness the static charge created by an eezo core and channel it into a fusor-type fusion reactor, we can create an energy efficient feedback loop that fuels the reactions in both cores." I explained further, savoring the wide-eyed look Dan had plastered on his face. "A form of synergy, if you will."

"What…what kind of energy output do you think this would have?" Dan asked, now very much interested in my idea.

"Now that I have my notes, the output would likely be somewhere around…" I paused, looking back from my fusion notes to my new ones checking the math. I smiled, realizing that I was indeed reading it correctly.

"Around 2.3 petawatts of electricity per hour if running on full power." I answered, blowing even my own expectations out of the water.

"Jesus Christ, that's more powerful than a lightning strike." Dan exclaimed, leaning back on my couch and running his hand through is hair. "Per hour?"

"Per hour." I confirmed once again, a big stupid smile chiseled on my face.

We just sat there in silence for a minute, processing the possible applications of such a powerful reactor.

"I guess we know… know what we're working on when we get that lab in a few days." Dan said with an excited look in his eyes. That was the look I was… well, looking for.

…

Aldrin Station, October 21st, 11:43 AM, 2180

…

I rolled around my neck, letting loose some loud cracking noises as small pockets of gas instantly escaped. Lynda turned around to face me with some minor shock on her face, which quickly dissipated. Dan just smiled.

"Anyways, your new workspace is the Delta Labs, down on Level 15." Lynda redirected her attention, facing the doors as they closed. "Currently, the lab only contains basic equipment, but we'll get anything you need as quickly as possible."

"Sounds pretty good." Dan said, one hand in his pocket and the other cradling a binder filled to the brim with papers.

The elevator went silent for the next thirty seconds before Lynda spoke back up.

"Well, you two certainly look prepared." She commented, looking back at us. "Already have ideas you're looking to try out?"

"Yep." I answered bluntly, a smile spreading across my face once more.

"What is it?" She asked, almost sounding like a kid prodding for what their birthday or Christmas present was.

"Secret." Dan answered for me, looking off to the side in an attempt to keep a straight face.

Lynda simply turned her head back to the doors with a dissatisfied look on her face, as Dan and I shot each other stupid grins.

We couldn't wait to work on this.

We finally reached Level 15 after waiting for what felt like hours, walking towards the starboard side of the station. After walking past several smaller labs, we reached a slightly newer looking area with a large set of heavy doors labeled D-1.

"To access your lab, you need the standard key used to access your quarters, along with these Level 5 IDs." She explained, handing us each a keycard. They were remarkably similar to our old Area 51 IDs, though slightly smaller and bright crimson in color. "You two are now full members of Task Force Cerebellum. Congratulations, gentlemen. As project leads, you can now hand pick any other scientists and technicians to assist you."

"Thank you, Major." I said, shaking hands with her once again.

With that, she left us once again to our own devices.

"Well, the UAC welcomes you to the Delta Labs." I referenced out loud, making Dan chuckle as I swiped my ID and slid my key into the specially made slot. The door opened slowly, revealing nothing but darkness.

"Well… that's foreboding." Dan remarked, as we both stepped past the threshold and into the darkness.

The moment the sensors detected movement, the whole room lit up. We were both speechless. The lab was a really nice size, comparable to a high-school gymnasium. It had a small rec area on the upper level near the back, adjustable floor panels and climate control, joists on the ceiling, and to top it all off, it was filled to the brim with equipment. All ours. No sharing, this belonged to me and Dan.

"Dude, I think I'm in heaven." I commented, looking at all of the stuff we had to work with. If this was the basic setup, then I wanted to see the advanced one.

"Heh." He huffed in agreement, walking to the pedestal near the lab control console. "Powell, are you available in this lab?"

"Sure am." He answered, his little avatar popping up and saluting. "What can I help you with?"

"I need to kno-… know where the 3D printer is, I need to… to start off by making a model." Dan started, flipping an OSD between his fingers in anticipation.

I stood there, soaking it all in a little longer.

This was going to be an interesting new job.

…

Aldrin Station, November 11th, 11:13 AM, 2180

…

I jolted awake as my omni-tool began beeping loudly, meaning I was getting a call. I actually groaned, seeing the time. I turned over in my bed, throwing my feet over the sides of the mattress. I let out a loud yawn, then checked the ID, seeing that it was Dan of all people.

For the last month Dan and I had been working on a couple of projects, though most of our attention has been focused on the Nemo-Michaels Reactor, as we had decided to call it. The project had progressed beautifully, and we already had a working version right in our own lab. It was still just a prototype, but it was already giving us great results. The results were so good, in fact, that Lynda, our administrator, had taken copies of our designs and presented them to the Admirals. I had yet to meet them, but I did know that one of them was Admiral Steven Hackett. He was a smart man, at least he would see the strategic opportunities behind such a reactor system.

What we didn't expect from the reactor was a unique synthetic plasma as a byproduct. It was a bluish color and burned extremely hot when exposed to air. Dan and I had determined it could be used as fuel in variable-impulse plasma engines, further reducing the need for helium-3. That had piqued the interest of Dr. Windham, who began work with a few samples of our plasma. Personally, I saw the potential for a new kind of weapon with this plasma. I remembered my teenage years when I had played through the game Doom 3, the Series 3 Plasma Gun in that game being one of my favorite weapons. I had preliminary ideas, but I had been too busy with the reactor itself to really focus on it.

Other than that, there wasn't much else too groundbreaking to mention. We've helped a few of the other project leads and personnel on the station, but other than that… not much. Dr. Ford still seemed to detest us for whatever reason, but so far we haven't had the need to interact with her.

"Yeah Dan?" I asked as soon as I made the connection.

"_Did you hear the announcement?_" He asked in his usual tone.

"No, I've been sleeping in. What was announced?" I replied, rubbing the jelly and crusts out of my eyes.

"_We've been given approval to…to start making the Gen II NM._" He explained, excitement creeping into his voice. "_The admirals loved it! When the Major presented… presented it to them, all three of them "went all wide eyed" and… and asked how soon they could get their hands on one out… out of the prototype stage. They're going to have it installed on a test… test ship along with something Dr. Windham has been cooking up._"

"That's great news!" I exclaimed, now fully awake. "We finished ironing out the void coefficient problem, right?"

"_Yep, and I increased… increased synergy 6% by adding titanium buffers instead of steel ones._" He answered, his pride practically oozing through his voice. "_By all regards, it's ready to go._"

"Awesome, I'll get to the lab in a few minutes." I finished, closing the call and hopping out of bed.

I threw on my jeans from yesterday, a Firefly t-shirt, my sneakers, and my trusty lab coat. Just as I grabbed an energy bar and ran out the door, a hand grabbed me by the shirt and thrust me against the wall. It was Dr. Ford.

"Who do you think you are?" She asked with hatred in her eyes, holding me against the wall. "You think you and your yes-man buddy can just waltz in here and take all the attention for yourselves?"

"What the fuck is your problem?" I yelled, not appreciating the violation of my personal space as I shoved her away. All my internal alarms went to red alert as I assumed a fighting stance.

"All of us have been working here for years, then you and your friend show up out of nowhere and get your own lab, your own funding, and now your own contract!" She shouted at me, looking none too pleased. "Who the hell are you two? What makes you so special over the rest of us?"

I was too angry at the moment to think about what she was saying, so instead I went off on a tangent.

"First off doctor, we never asked for any of our "privileges", they were simply given to us by the Director! Second, we offered ALL the project leads the opportunity to work with us in our lab, and you were the only one who refused to reply back!" I countered, feeling unfairly targeted here. "If you wanted to have a hand in the NM contract, you should have accepted our offer!"

She didn't reply back, all she did was shoot metaphorical daggers at me with her eyes as she crossed her arms.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Don't wait up." I finished, straightening my lab coat back up and picking my energy bar off the floor. "Fucking hell…"

I barged into the express elevator, hitting the button for level 15 so hard that I practically pierced the holographic display. Now I was thoroughly pissed off. I pressed my back against the wall of the elevator, staring up at the ceiling in a vain attempt to focus on something else. Of course, it didn't work.

I barged into Delta, Dan, Dr. Windham and a couple of technicians turning to me in surprise. I passed all of them, instead going up to the break area and throwing myself into an armchair. I rubbed my temples, a headache beginning to form.

"Um… should I ask?" Dan asked, him and Dr. Windham walking up to see what was wrong.

I just shot him an annoyed glare, covering up my eyes with one hand to block out light.

"Let me guess… Ford?" Windham asked, looking down at me as he rubbed his white beard.

"Your observational skills are impeccable." I remarked, trying not to get too prissy.

"I don't understand." Dan remarked, a look of confusion plastered on his face.

"Mara is angry that you two have made so much progress after being here for such little time." He explained, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "She thinks you two are trying to "steal" all the contracts."

"How could we… we be stealing them?" Dan asked, trying to make sense of the situation. "The Task Force shar… shares all credit for its inventions."

"You haven't been here long enough to "know" Dr. Ford." He explained further, taking a seat. "She joined Cerebellum in order to "get noticed" or "make her mark". She sees you two as threats to her career."

"Oh, so that just gives her a free pass to be a bitch towards us?" I said bitterly, throwing my energy bar against the floor in anger.

Windham just shook his head in disappointment as Dan leaned against the wall.

"No matter, she's the one with the problem, not us." I remarked, getting back up and banishing Ford from my mind. "We have two days before vacation, we need to make sure the techs have everything they need to build the commercial NM reactor."

"Dr. Michaels, before you do that I have something else to share with you." Windham said, as I turned to face him.

"Yeah, Dan told me something of yours was going into the test ship too." I said, recomposing myself as I smoothed out my lab coat. "What is it?"

He smiled, looking back at Dan who did the same.

"I've finally done it." He said with a shine in his eye. "After sixty-three years, I've found an alternative to mass relays."

…

After sitting here for an hour listening to Dr. Windham explain his device, I was thoroughly amazed.

He had created what he called a "Gravity Drive", much to my initial horror. Luckily, it was NOT the lovecraftian, puzzle-sphere drive core from the Event Horizon movie, but a drive core that manipulated gravity to make ships "fall" towards a specific destination. It was extremely interesting.

It was shaped a lot like a tape dispenser, which I found awfully funny. It had its own centrifuge that generated a localized field of gravity around a ship. When the ship wanted to make a jump, it throws all the gravity in the field towards the front of the ship, instantly propelling the ship forwards at speeds comparable to that of a mass relay. The gravity keeps pulling the ship until it is redirected to the rear of the field, stopping the ship in its tracks. During all of this, the crew is protected from inertia and time dilation by the standard mass effect fields produced by an eezo drive core.

Saying that this was ground breaking was too easy. No, this was earth-shattering.

Windham has been working on this since 2127, before humanity had discovered any Prothean artifacts or Mass Relays. He made it a point for me to know we had used to call mass relays "phase gates" for whatever reason. Though his device had been effectively finished for the last few years, there were no practical way to test the gravity drive due to the gratuitous amounts of electricity it consumed. When he had heard about our Nemo-Michaels reactor, he jumped aboard our project.

"This is my life's work." He said with a big smile, holding out his hands to the design posted on the board. "And it truly is beautiful."

"These two are meant to… to be together, Sean." Dan added, showing me another schematic. "He and I have been working on… on integration for… for the last two days."

I examined the design, seeing it was a linkage between our reactor and Windham's gravity drive. Our reactor was tucked firmly behind the core, and the estimated power balance between the two was perfect.

"This is incredible." I congratulated, standing up and shaking Dr. Windham and Dan's hands. "I need to share some champagne or wine with you glorious bastards when we go to Earth."

"I know just the place." He remarked with a smile, handing me a card from his pocket.

…

Los Angeles, November 13th, 2:13 PM, 2180

…

Dan, Windham and I opened our bottle together inside Siverlake Wine, the best wine house in all of Los Angeles. We had bought an extremely expensive bottle of 1938 Chateau Latour, deciding the cost didn't matter at this point. We were here to celebrate, and by god we were going to do it right.

I had never been in Los Angeles before, even though I had been pretty close to it before. The problems that plagued the city and surrounding areas have been long solved for the last hundred years or so, the canals now constantly flowing with water and the pollution cleansed from the air. There were certainly many more buildings than before, but throw in the flying cars and the occasional alien and it was much, much different that it was back around 2023.

Back then, the state of California and surrounding states had been going through what was now known as the "30 Year Drought." Many parts of the state had simply vanished or fallen into disarray without steady access to water, the Colorado River and Lake Mead having dried up a few years after we had vanished. It threw a lot of the west coast into disarray, and much was destroyed. Since 2054 though, the west coast had a resurgence with the creation of the Pacific Hydro Municipality, a massive company that finally made use of the largest ocean right next to them.

They moved in with massive water desalination plants and effectively saved the west coast from becoming a desert in the span of a year. Since then, Los Angeles had become the home to a massive spaceport, and I meant massive. It was up there with London, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Vancouver.

We had been ferried here along with everyone else who had signed up for vacation this week. From here we were allowed to go anywhere we wanted on the planet as long as it was approved by the Director. If we went anywhere we weren't supposed to go or transmitted any non-civilian data, a dozen Alliance black operatives would descend on us before we knew it. Luckily, Maryland was on the approved list, and we would be heading there tomorrow. Besides, we had already seen what one of the black ops teams are capable of, and Dan and I surely didn't want another repeat of that.

All of us were dressed in casual clothes, even Windham, who was wearing a polo shirt and a pair of khakis. We may have been strictly prohibited from talking about our work while on vacation, but that didn't mean we couldn't celebrate our breakthrough.

"To the three of us, the brightest minds of our generations." Windham said, holding his glass up for a toast. "And to the dawn of a new generation for both spaceflight and energy!"

"Amen." I agreed with a smile, as we all clinked glasses together and took a sip of the vintage wine. It had a great taste to it, and I savored it as a waiter brought us our bread and cheese.

Tonight, we would savior not only this wine, but our breakthroughs. Tomorrow we would take a shuttle to Maryland, and visit the ghosts of our former lives.

It will not be a happy day.

…

**A/N: Sorry that it's been a while, I've been busy wrapping up my finals as of late. With any luck, I can hopefully put out a chapter every week or two now that I'll have some free time on my hands.**

**So the gang has befriended Windham and have already started leaving their mark on the future they have ended up in. Whether or not this test ship of theirs will work on not has yet to be decided, but we can only hope for the best for our protagonists. **

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.**


	5. Rigor Mortis

...

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? (Edgar Allan Poe)

…

Somewhere over the United States, November 14th, 7:02 AM, 2180

…

I sat in an empty cabin, no one but me in the transport craft. The air was cold, bone chilling to the point where I could clearly see my breath. My coat seemed to do nothing heat-wise, and my jeans fared even worse. I stood up and walked around the cabin in an attempt to get my blood flowing, and to see if I could find the pilot. He should be fired for making his passengers endure conditions like this.

I opened the cockpit door only to see my house. I stepped out onto the sidewalk and up the stairs, subconsciously checking for my keys. They were exactly where they were supposed to be, hanging off my left belt loop. I was unfazed by the fact that there was only one key. I inserted the lone key on the loop into the lock on the thick wooden door with a satisfying click. I turned the key, savoring the clunky sound of the old oak door unlocking.

Opening the door, I was greeted with the smell of my mother's French toast. I followed the scent to the dining room, where they were sitting on the table between three empty sets of plates and forks. I turned my head to the sound or water rushing from a faucet, seeing my mother standing with her back to me, washing something in the sink.

"Mom! Mom, you have no idea how happy I am to see you." I said, walking towards her. She didn't respond, causing me some worry. "Mom?"

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE?!" My mom shouted, turning to face me with a knife in her hand. Her face was half decomposed, rotting with bits of skull visible with worms and maggots eating away at it. "YOU ABANDONED US!"

I screamed in pure horror as the thing in front of me charged, burying the knife in my chest as everything went black.

…

"…_ean, you getting up anyt_ime… time soon?" I heard said as my eyes darted open, my heart pounding through my chest.

I looked up to see Dan, letting out a deep sigh as I acknowledged they fact that I had experienced yet another fucked up dream.

"Um… are you alright?" He asked, a look of genuine worry forming on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied, not wanting to talk about what I had just conjured up in my own head.

"Then hurry up and get…. get your luggage, we've arrived." Dan remarked, throwing on his backpack. "I need some real food in my system before we go… go out into the county."

"Right." I agreed, banishing the dream to the back of my mind as I pulled my shoulder bag out of the overhead compartment. I slung it over said shoulder, walking out of the transport. The cloud-filled sky was being pierced by the sunrise, bathing everything in a warm, amber glow.

I was more than a little shocked to see that Baltimore was relatively unchanged, though there were still a few things that I noticed immediately. The biggest thing being the water right off the bat. Back in our time, the waters in the Chesapeake were very much brackish, filled with sediments, chemicals, and other foul human byproducts that had accumulated over the decades. Now, the water was much cleaner looking, the brown color and mild stench gone. It had more of a "pacific" look to it now, though previous programming dictated that I still stay far away from it.

The second was the area where the spaceport was located. I knew from looking at the Key Bridge that this area must have been Sparrow's Point, the land once dominated by some of America's greatest steel mills in the past. Back when Dan and I had just gotten accepted to MIT, they had just finished demolishing the last of the mills after decades of use. It made many people in the state sad, but I had to appreciate the new purpose of this land. A name like Sparrow's Point was much more befitting to a spaceport than a giant steel mill complex.

I looked around to face the heart of Baltimore City, which was largely unchanged despite all the time that had passed. All the old buildings were still there, though they had seen heavy modifications and the city now had large "green spaces" that complemented both human and alien biology.

"Hmph… I don't believe for a second that it's any less of a shithole than it was before." I remarked, deliberately mischaracterizing my true thoughts to better coerce a meaningful counter argument from Dan. I was lucky, I caught Dan in one of his rare sarcastic moods.

"Is that your professional opinion?" He replied in a deadpan as we looked out over the harbor.

"Maybe." I shot back, being intentionally vague as my voice rolled over to the sarcastic side. "Come on, how much could _possibly_ have changed over_ 200 years_?"

"Heh… I don't know, I'm sure there are still _plenty _of board… boarded up townhouses and vacant lots _everywhere_." He replied in a deadpan similar to mine, leaning on the railing. "Oh, and let's not forget the _famous_ Highway to Nowhere…"

I laughed, unable to keep my straight face any longer.

"Come on, let's go find us some breakfast." I urged, as we peeled our vision from the amber harbor.

…

Double T Diner, November 14th, 7:56 AM, 2180

…

Dan and I walked into a childhood favorite of mine, Double T Diner. The place was modeled after the 50's-style diners of the olden days, and had simple, 24/7 service. It couldn't have been a better choice, all things considered. More comfortable than one of those posh breakfast joints run by those yuppie types in the city, and more "official" than going to say, McDonalds for Egg McMuffins and hash browns.

I was genuinely surprised. Other than some seriously upgraded computer equipment, everything looked the same. Everything. I took in a big whiff of the air, exhaling with a smile. It even smelled the same.

"Well, I've never been in… a place like this before." Dan remarked, looking up at the chrome decorations that were pretty much everywhere. "It has quite the… style?"

"Oh, my grandparents loved this place like you wouldn't believe." I said, as a waitress ushered us to a table for two.

"I can see why. There's enough… enough old people here to fill a… a retirement home." Dan insinuated, noting the large number of senior citizens eating here as the waitress handed us both menus and walked off. "I mean, look. They even have re… record players in the booths."

"Shut up, you won't be talking smack once you try their food." I shot back, deflecting his idle chatter as I opened up the menu and took a look at the massive list of choices I had. Dan was obviously taken aback by this, and I loved seeing that look of confusion on his face. It reminded me of the looks my "fellow classmates" gave me back in elementary school. They were the ones they would give me when I said something that none of them understood. Even to this day, I found that look priceless.

"Hm… what would you say likely has the most meat on it?" He inquired, scratching the back of his ear.

"What do you mean?" I grinned, wanting to see where this would go as I leaned on one arm.

"Well, they have all… all these omelets, but three of them focus specifically on mea…meat. They have a Meat Lovers, a Philly, and so…something called a Tom Turkey." He explained, turning the menu so I could see it. "And what the hell is lox?"

"Lox is brined salmon." I answered, causing his eyes to go up in surprise.

"Any idea if it's good?" He asked, now genuinely interested in it. I remembered that he liked salmon, often making it with his mother and sister on the weekends.

"I wouldn't know, the only fish I ever eat is canned tuna." I replied bluntly, folding my arms. "It's your decision, man."

He pondered it for a little while before the waitress came back.

"So, what can I get you guys to drink?" She asked, holding a slightly smaller datapad.

"I'll have some Pepsi." I said, looking over at Dan.

"A glass of water for me." He replied quickly, setting his menu down.

"OK, you ready to order as well?" She asked, tapping away at the datapad with a stylus. We both nodded to each other.

"Yeah, I'll take some eggs, scrambled, without the home fries, along with extra bacon." I laid out, as she scribbled the order onto her pad.

"Alright, and you?" She redirected, looking at my partner.

"I'll take the Double T Omelet with a side of bacon." He said, fiddling with the corner of the placemat, one of his numerous nervous ticks when interacting with people he didn't know. "And a grapefruit."

"Alright, I'll go get your drinks, and the food will be out soon." She finished, putting the datapad in her pocket.

With that, she walked off. Dan and I were left to our own devices yet again.

I opened up my omni-tool, doing what I had been holding off on as much as possible.

I started searching through public records, going through death certificates and obituaries as I went about the grim task of looking up my mother and father's names. I had to search deep, but I eventually discovered that they were buried at Loudon Park Cemetery. I would have to find out where exactly at the cemetery itself, but that was another task in itself.

"That's odd…" Dan remarked, looking through some records as well. He had an almost fearful look of confusion on his face, which didn't bode well at all.

"What's wrong?" I inquired, looking over at him as I took a sip of my Pepsi.

"I've found my mom's re…records and my dad's records, but…" He paused, the look on his face intensifying.

"But what?" I lead, trying to keep him going.

"I can't find any record of… of my sister." He said, scrolling through several pages without even pausing. "Not one de…death certificate, obituary, or even her damn ID. Nothing."

"That is odd." I agreed, looking over at Dan's omni-tool. "You spelled her name right and everything?"

"I checked five times already." He finished, leaning back in his seat. "She's… just gone."

I didn't know how to respond to something like this. I sat there with an expression comparable to Dan's as silence filled the void between us. I couldn't imagine what must have been going through Dan's head, he cared a lot about his little sister. This must have been one hell of a blow to him.

"Here you go, gentlemen." The waitress said, snapping my mind back to the world around me. She placed our respective orders on the table along with some extra toast, the smell instantly driving my stomach to the point where it practically begged me to eat the food.

"Thank you." I dismissed quickly, grabbing a fork and digging into the scramble eggs. The nostalgic taste washed over me, bringing me back to the age of nine. I smiled, quickly feeding a piece of bacon into my mouth and grinding it into the scramble eggs. It was the best meal I had gotten in months.

I stopped, looking over at Dan. He was, to my expectations, enjoying the food. While he had a look of pleasure on his face, I could see that he was still in deep thought about his sister. I could always tell by the way he stared into space, focusing on one object in front of him to prevent his surroundings from interfering with his thoughts.

For now, that was still his problem. While I understood his situation, I had enough of my own problems to deal with today. Besides, he needed to solve his personal problems on his own, just like me.

…

Louden Park Cemetery, November 14th, 9:42 AM, 2180

…

I slowly walked through rows and rows of gravestones, looking for one solitary name. Michaels. Unfortunately for me, Michaels was a grossly common last name back in our time. It made my task much more difficult, but god forbid I made a mistake and passed it.

I clutched a bouquet of real roses in my left hand as I walked through this section of the cemetery. I wanted nothing but the best for this "occasion", and I meant the best. There was no way I was going to half-ass any of this, I owed that much to my mother and father. There was no way to make up for what happened, but I could at least try to make amends. Not just for my sake, but theirs too.

I finally found it. I stood at the foot of a reasonably sized gravestone with an engraving of a Baltimore police badge between the two names carved on it. Gary Michaels and Kathleen Michaels.

Something snapped in the back of my head seeing those names. It was almost like a switch.

I slumped to my knees and began crying. Despite how much I told myself I wouldn't, I couldn't stop myself once it started. I began sobbing uncontrollably, hunched over as tears ran off my cheeks. This lasted until I was unable to make any more tears. I looked back up at it, putting my hands on the edges of the hard granite.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I never meant for any of this to happen." I stammered out, looking hard at the etched names. "I should have been there, I should have been there for you two… I've made so many mistakes…"

I couldn't continue as tears began rolling again. I kneeled there for what felt like hours as tears landed on the moist grass, disappearing into the morning dew.

I pushed the roses into the soft ground in front of the gravestone, stand back up and looking down at them.

"I promise that I will always do my best." I said, trying so hard to think of the right words. "I'll always help others, I'll build things to make people's lives better, I'll…"

Losing my words, I stopped myself and stood straighter.

"I'll always love you." I finished, rubbing my hand on the top of the gravestone. "Goodbye, guys."

With that, I walked away. A great weight on my chest slowly begin to lift as I made my way back to my rented shuttle. I started feeling better, even if there was still a massive void left where they once were.

I could only hope from this point on to do right by them.

…

Baltimore City, November 14th, 11:32 AM, 2180

…

I walked through the city to Dan and I's apartment in Charles Tower, taking in how unrecognizable it all was on street level. While all of the city's buildings from our time had been preserved, almost all of the ground-level establishments had either been retrofitted or outright replaced. I was also surprised at how many of the old streets had been outright demolished and replaced with those foot-traffic only "green spaces." Even in the fall, these trees stayed green and didn't falter through the winter. I found that to be kind of unnatural.

I had been surprised by just how many aliens were here, too. Compared to L.A., this was nothing, but nevertheless it was still interesting. There were a lot of asari around here, and even a few turians and salarians. I didn't expect to see so many in what was basically considered to be a backwater. I think I even spotted a quarian while I was walking, keeping pace a little farther ahead of me. It was such a cool thing, seeing this city in a good light for once.

My thoughts were shattered as I turned to the sound of commotion to my left, watching the quarian I had spotted earlier get pulled into an alleyway by several human men. I ran over as everyone else ignored it, putting my back to the wall so I wasn't exposed.

"You think you can just walk around our city without us noticing you, suit rat?" One of the men said in a threatening manner. "Where'd you get all this junk, huh? Did you steal it?"

"I didn't steal anything!" The quarian cried out, as I peeked around the corner. "What do you want from me?"

"We want everything that you stole, including your backpack and your omni-tool." The second man said, smiling with crossed arms. The third man held the quarian, keeping him from moving.

"I wanna see his face, boss!" The first one said, as he and the second pulled out switchblades.

"No!" The quarian shouted in utter fear, trying to get out of the man's grip. "Someone please help!"

I couldn't let this go on. I turned out of cover, walking into view.

"Keep moving buddy, this doesn't concern you." The second man threatened, pointing a knife at me.

"Oh, I think it does." I shot back, plucking the SPD-issue Kessler V out of my shoulder pack and pointing it at the trio.

While the weapon was originally set to send out an emergency signal whenever it was deployed, I found and removed that modification, instead adding shredder ammunition and lightweight materials. It also had the added benefit of being shielded from weapon detectors and being coded to my DNA thanks to Dr. Vsevolod.

"Let the quarian go and drop his belongings." I ordered, walking towards them as they all visibly tensed up. "If you do not comply, I will not hesitate to blow your fucking brains out."

"Fuck, run!" The leader of the trio shouted as the third man dropped the quarian and they ran off. Once I was sure they were gone, I holstered my Kessler and helped the quarian back to his feet.

"Keelah, thank you so much." He thanked, hunched over due to lack of breath. "If they had taken off my mask or breached my suit… I don't even want to think about it."

"It's alright, I've got you covered." I reassured, picking up his backpack and handing it back to him. "What's your name?"

"Lenlo'Ferna nar Havvano." He said, nodding to me.

"Sean Michaels, it's nice to meet you." I properly greeted, shaking hands with him.

"I have no idea how to repay you… I have nothing to give …" He started to say before I held my hand up to stop him.

"Don't sweat it, I don't need any kind of reward." I stopped, giving him a small smile as I looked harder at him. He had a green accented envirosuit wrapped with black cloths. His mask was a reflective green like the suit, though I could still see his bioluminescent eyes. "I'm just happy I could help out someone in need."

"I can't thank you enough." He continued, obviously still a little shocked by what transpired. It was obvious just from looking at him that he was one of those kids that were off on their Pilgrimage, the quarian "Rite of Adulthood." I could tell that he must have been having a rough time.

"Here, take this." I said, handing him a 5,000 dollar credit chit from my pocket. "Go get yourself a gun and something good to eat, you look like you need both."

"R-really?" He stammered out in disbelief, looking at awe at the credit chit.

"Yep." I smiled, giving him a pat on the back. "Don't worry, man. Not all humans are racist pieces of shit."

"I'm in your debt." He said, pocketing the chit. "Maybe we will meet again one day."

"Who knows, the galaxy is a small place." I finished, shaking his hand once more. "Goodbye, Lenlo."

With that, we both sent our separate ways, leaving me with a good feeling in my chest. I'm sure my mother and father would be proud of me, sticking up for someone like that. My dad would have slapped some cuffs on those bastards and thrown them into a paddy wagon, but unfortunately I wasn't a police officer.

Several minutes later I arrived at the Charles Tower, punching the button for the top floor. Once inside the apartment Dan and I had rented for the day, I decided to occupy myself by looking out over the busy city. I found it was fun just listening to the Blade Runner soundtrack while I watched the traffic go by and the people scurry about. Even though this was one of the lesser spaceports on eastern seaboard, it still didn't lack in traffic.

I eventually fell back asleep, slipping gently out of consciousness.

…

Charles Tower, November 14th, 2:22 PM, 2180

…

I was jolted out of my sleep as the apartment door was slammed shut. I leaned up quickly to see Dan storm into the room, throwing his backpack on the ground.

"Whoa, what the hell is going on?" I asked slowly, still groggy.

"There is some…something going on, something is fu…fucked up right now." Dan explained, coming very close to yelling. "By all regards, my…my sister doesn't fucking exist! That does…n't just happen!"

He slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a fist-shaped indent in the wall. To say he was pissed off was quite the understatement.

"Come on, calm down man-" I started to say, before he turned around and pointed his finger in my face.

"Don't tell me to..to fucking calm down!" He yelled hard enough for me to smell his breath. "This is my goddamn si…sister we're talking about!"

I just held up my hands, not wanting to get on his bad side. I wasn't going to try and say anything else unless he asked me, I wasn't taking any chances.

"You remember who h…had their personal information hidden like this, right?" Dan asked after calming himself. He looked me in the eye as I thought about it. That's when it hit me.

"Us." I said simply, sitting up straight as I looked back at him. "When we were blacklisted, they took all of our information from the public databases. Which could only mean one thing…"

"…At some po…point, my sister joined DARPA." He finished, rubbing his forehead in obvious frustration.

"Lynda said all of DARPA's files carried over to the SPD, so that means she must know more about this." I pieced together, causing him to lift his head up.

"In that case, there's so…someone I need to have a chat with." Dan said, going into his omni-tool and punching in Lynda's priority contact information. Two minutes of waiting later, and she popped up on vidcom.

"_I hope this is important, Dr. Nemo, I have a lot of paperwork to sort out before you return from vacation._" She started off, looking between us and an unseen document.

"Yeah it's important." Dan replied matter-of-factly as I stayed of Lynda's view. "I'm having trouble finding my sister's personal information here on Earth, and came to…to the conclusion that she was blacklisted."

"_So, that's what you and Dr. Michaels decided to do with your free time._" She remarked, getting serious as she folded her hands in front of her face. "_Yes, I was made aware of her blacklisting shortly after you two "arrived", and…_"

She paused, looking off to the side.

"And what?" Dan demanded, looking harder at her and trying to keep his composure.

"_I'll be blunt with you, it'll be easier to explain in person_." She said with finality, looking back at him. "_Come back to the station whenever you want, I'll be ready by then._"

"I'll be there tonight." Dan finished, cutting off the call with even more anger in his face. "You have any…thing else you need to do before we leave?"

"Nope, I fulfilled all of my obligations." I confirmed, crossing my hands behind my back.

He nodded in satisfaction, as we both pulled our stuff together and threw on our backpacks. After a few minutes of traveling, we arrived back at the spaceport. We popped our non-emergency pickup beacons and waited for our transport to arrive. I looked over the harbor one more time, mentally saying my goodbyes as our ride arrived.

I would never see that harbor again if I could help it. Too many painful memories.

…

**A/N: So Sean got to deal with his personal demons for now, but Dan still has other obvious problems to solve. The next chapter may surprise you if I play my cards right. I'm trying really hard to do proper characterization, and if anyone has any good suggestions, please tell me in a review or PM.**

**Finals Week here is coming to a close, and I cannot wait. This will likely be my last "true" summer of carefree fun before I throw myself to the wolves. Maryland has such a shitty job market, I swear to god.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.**


	6. Synapse

...

"Could you sacrifice me to complete your mission? Could you watch me die?" (Cortana)

…

Aldrin Station, November 14th, 8:09 PM, 2180

…

Dan had only become angrier during the ride back to Aldrin. While before he was a wildfire in California, now he was closer to Reactor 4 at Chernobyl. He was about to explode, and I would have to stay here to make sure he didn't do anything crazy. God knows that didn't end well for a few bullies and one turian back on The Citadel.

The familiar sounds of the docking clamps shook the ship, signaling our arrival. We picked up our belongings, walking down the narrow tube that linked the both sides. Once at the other side, we went through our usual decontamination sequence.

"Dan, please don't do anything to crazy." I pleaded as we waited for the decon sequence to finish. "I don't want to end up in some prison cell because you couldn't control yourself."

He looked over at me for a second before looking back at the door. He sighed, running a hand through his oily brown hair.

"I'll do my best." He quietly agreed, nodding in agreement.

I accepted his acknowledgement as the doors opened, revealing Lynda and, to my surprise, Dr. Karpyshyn of all people.

"Welcome back, gentlemen." Lynda greeted with a very slight head nod and a neutral expression. "I'm sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances, but Dr. Nemo deserves to know what's going on."

Dan exhaled from his nose, looking over at me without turning his head.

"Follow us." She finished, turning on her heel as she and Karpyshyn began walking.

We walked in silence for a while, going down to the 41st floor. We crossed through yet another decon chamber before entering the Alpha Labs. This was where Karpyshyn worked day and night on his groundbreaking and highly illegal A.I. research. It resembled a medical bay more than anything else, though it was very messy and dark. Papers littered the floor and empty coffee cups could be seen as far as the eye could see.

"Powell is my crowning achievement, but even he isn't perfect." Karpyshyn began, tapping away at his datapad. "His neural interlaces are comparable to that of an average human, but he still lacks one thing."

"What would that be?" I asked, crossing my arms as we stopped in the middle of the lab.

"Creativity. While he has a charming personality and will work hard on any task given to him, he operates a lot like his avatar suggests. He follows orders like a soldier, and doesn't deviate from that path." Karpyshyn answered, explaining it further. "That's one of the drawbacks of scanning the brain the way I did."

"I fail to… to see how this rel…relates to my sister." Dan interjected, obviously wanting him to get to the point. He could care less what was going on right now, he just wanted to know what happened to his sister.

"Please, let him finish, Dr. Nemo." Lynda eased, holding up her hand.

Dan grudgingly agreed, crossing his arms and looking back to Karpyshyn.

"With Powell, I forcibly ripped the neural signals from the donor's brain, sacrificing all the traits that person once had. That's why we had to be careful with him, he effectively became a different person." Karpyshyn continued, as he turned his datapad around and showed us a diagram. "I've recently cracked the problem, and found a way to preserve all the synapses during the transfer."

We both looked at the comparison, seeing the difference. I was actually getting very interested in this, Karpyshyn knew his stuff. But I brought my head back up and refocused myself. That would be another conversation for another day.

"This is where your sister comes in, Nemo." Lynda chimed in, handing Dan yet another manila folder. "About three years after you and Dr. Michaels disappeared, your sister did join DARPA. She went into heavy medical research, going on to create a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease and create several smaller advances in medical technology."

"Wow." I exclaimed, shooting Dan a smile as he began looking through the folder.

"Though she found a cure for that disease, she tragically contracted leukemia two years after becoming employed at DARPA." Lynda continued, causing Dan's face to drop. "After her diagnosis, she found there was no way she could develop a cure, so she instead turned to cryogenic research."

"Wait a m-minute, are you telling me DARPA put my si…sister on ice?" Dan remarked, getting even more confused than he was before.

"She put herself on ice." Lynda corrected, crossing her arms. "She put herself under and handed all her research over to DARPA, giving them two conditions for resuscitation: Cure Found or Cryo Failure."

"I don't ha…have a good feeling about this." Dan grimaced, closing the folder and focusing on Lynda. "What is this all leading up to?"

"Two years ago a cure was found, but your sister… had been under too long. Her body had been destroyed, and there was no way to revive her." Lynda slowly said, looking down at the ground halfway through. Dan looked devastated.

"Until recently." Karpyshyn chimed back in, handing his datapad to me so Dan and I could both see it. "While your sister's body had been destroyed, her brain had not. We managed to save it, and preserve it."

One the datapad was another dossier, but this one contained statistics about a Brain No.5. Dan got a strange, new look on his face as the puzzle pieces fell into place. It was somewhere between utter confusion, horror, and amazement.

"You want to t-turn my sister into an A.I." Dan said, a dumbfounded look dominating his expression.

"Yes." Karpyshyn confirmed as Lynda nodded. "With my new transfer method, I can completely preserve your sister's memories, thoughts, quirks, everything, but at a cost. Her humanity."

"If you allowed your sister to become an A.I., she would never again be considered human." Lynda added, taking the files back from Dan. "You know that A.I.s are extremely illegal. If the Citadel Council ever found out about her, they will surely try to kill her."

Dan rubbed his chin in thought, pondering the ramifications of this. I had no idea what was going through his mind, and that was rare for me. Dan would either have to sentence his sister to death or to a life of seclusion.

"Can you give me and my friend a minute?" I asked, knowing Dan would want my opinion on this.

"Sure." The both agreed, as we walked back towards the lab entrance where we were out of earshot.

"I don't k-know what to do." Dan admitted with a look of partial panic on his face. "I don't know h…how to make a decision like this…"

I nodded, understanding how much weight was on his shoulders at the moment.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do Dan, but if I had the chance to bring a member of my family back from the dead, I would do it in a heartbeat." I said in his ear, staying as quiet as possible. "At least you have that choice."

Dan stared into space for a few seconds before covering his face with both hands.

"OK, I'll do it." He confirmed quietly, still keeping one hand over his mouth.

We walked back over to Lynda and Karpyshyn, who were waiting patiently.

"Alright, y…you can turn her into an A.I." Dan reluctantly agreed, nervously shuffling his feet as he looked back at me for acknowledgement. I nodded, agreeing with his decision. "When will it be done?"

"Right now." Karpyshyn answered, motioning for us to follow.

We followed Karpyshyn and Lynda into another lab. This one contained an odd looking machine in a sealed-off area behind a glass shield. It looked a lot like an oversized holotank with dozens of lines connected to it, all meeting at several smaller cylindrical storage devices. On the edges of the room were large, inactive servers that flickered as the device warmed up.

Once the device was fully activated, Karpyshyn tapped out a command, causing a glass case to emerge from one of the cylinders on the floor. That must have been Lydia's brain.

"This is really weird." I let slip, grinding my teeth together.

"Heh, don't worry, I still find it weird too." Karpyshyn replied with a smile, rolling up his sleeves before taking is glasses off. "Alright, transferring Brain No. 5, Dr. Lydia Nemo, to transfer tank."

A claw arm slowly picked up the glass brain case, moving it into the center tank. Once secure, a umbilical connected to the top of the tank, causing a sharp popping noise to vibrate through the air.

"Umbilical secured." Karpyshyn announced, looking over at Dan. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Dan hesitated for a few seconds before hitting the Enter key, beginning the process.

"Transfer sequence has begun, estimated time… three minutes." He said as the lights in our room dimmed. The lights on the servers went crazy, blinking rapidly as a bluish glow could be seen emanating from the brain case. Pulses of electricity could be seen coursing through the curvatures of Lydia's brain, copying and converting her brain's signals into data.

About three minutes later, a hologram began to form inside the tank, flickering between different colors, shapes, and forms. It was extremely erratic, like a broken lightbulb or someone having a seizure.

"Right now she's processing, trying to choose a form to represent her new self." Karpyshyn explained, pointing at the flickering hologram.

"Why wouldn't she just choose her original form?" I asked, trying to gleam more from this process.

"She still could for all we know, but I still believe it's based more on what the subconscious wants." Karpyshyn proposed as her hologram slowed, beginning to reveal a feminine form.

She wore golden armor, including gauntlets and foot coverings. She was wrapped in white, adorned cloths and had a golden headpiece fixed to her head. Her face remained the same, though looked slightly older than I remembered her being. I noticed that she looked a lot like something I remembered from before, but I couldn't place my finger on what exactly it was.

"Can you hear me in there?" Karpyshyn asked into a microphone, causing her to flip around in search of the source.

"Yes." She confirmed with a confused expression on her face. She looked into space as one of the cameras turned on in the room, turning to face her. She looked over herself, huffing in approval.

"Who are you?" Karpyshyn probed as Dan, Lynda and I watched carefully. "What is your name?"

"My name is Lydia Nemo… well, it was the last time I checked." She answered, crossing one of her arms and rubbing her chin. "I'd love to know what exactly is going on."

"We will in a while, but first you have to answer a few questions." Karpyshyn held off, looking over at his datapad. "If I don't properly test you, there could be complications."

"Alright, shoot." She agreed, the cameras in the room turning to face the polarized window.

"OK… where did you go to college?" Karpyshyn continued, looking between the datapad and Lydia.

"I went to Harvard University for three years." She answered, crossing her hands behind her back.

"Good… what did you accomplish when you joined DARPA?" Karpyshyn asked, causing Lydia to get an angry look on her face.

"Hold up, just who the hell are you people?" Lydia demanded, waving her arm. "I don't know who you are, why should I trust you enough to talk about DARPA?"

Karpyshyn just smiled, looking back at us.

"Alright, depolarize the screen, we can trust her." Lynda ordered as Dan shot her a slightly annoyed look.

The screen dropped, giving Lydia full view of the control room. She looked at us, he eyes going wide.

"Dan? Sean?" She said, looking shocked as her eyes drifted over us.

"Hi Lydia." Dan said with a big smile, moisture forming in his eyes.

"How did… where did you and… what?" Lydia stammered, looking around in an attempt to calm herself.

"It's a long story." I said, leaning on the edge of the console as I looked over at Lynda. "I think your situation should be explained first."

Lynda nodded, stepping up and straightening up her uniform.

"Hello Lydia, I am Lynda Embry of the Alliance's Special Projects Division." She greeted, standing as straight as she possibly could. "The Alliance is-"

"I know what the Alliance is, I've already glossed over the Codex you have here." She replied, looking distrustfully at Lynda. "So… what happened to me?

Dan and I braced for a long conversation, sitting down in some nearby chairs.

…

Aldrin Station, November 15th, 9:51 AM, 2180

…

Yesterday had been one hell of a day. Lynda and "Athena", as Lydia now wanted to go by, spend about three hours asking and answering questions. It had been kind of surreal to see something that happen to Dan's own sister, but I had to admit it still seemed kind of neat. Though Karpyshyn later told me and me alone that he had no idea how long Lydia could last. He explained that she could either last thousands, hundreds, or maybe only a few years. He didn't know.

I rubbed my temples, my overthinking on the subject causing a small headache.

"Eh, this is too much for me still." I remarked out loud, guzzling down another cup of coffee as I looked over the status reports for that test ship the Admirals had provided us. It was a Frigate from Rear Admiral Mikhailovich's 63rd Scout Flotilla. He must have been pissed, the ship was brand new and fully customizable. As I was reading the report, our Nemo-Michaels reactor and Windham's Gravity Drive were being mounted. In six days it would be ready for us and a few technicians to come aboard and calibrate everything. After that, it would likely be ready for its maiden voyage.

I said a silent prayer to myself, hoping that when the time came I wouldn't have to explain to the Director why the shiny new frigate the Admirals had given us had been reduced to subatomic particles.

I smiled, shaking my head at the thought. We have gone over the calculations dozens of times, the ship should be fine.

Knowing that there was nothing else to do In the meantime, I picked up my files and tucked them under my arm, snatching a can of Pepsi as I walked out the door. If figured that I'd start looking into this weapon idea of mine, it had been tempting me for a while now.

Once in the elevator, I looked over a few designs I had cooked up, leaning towards the one most similar to the one from Doom 3. I was about to start looking at the plasma properties until the elevator stopped. The door opened revealing Dr. Ford.

We stared at each other for a few seconds before she broke eye contact, walking inside and punching in the 22nd floor on the panel. We stood awkwardly in silence for a minute before she spoke up,

"I… would like to apologize for my personal misconduct the other day." She started, still avoiding eye contact but turning slightly in my direction. "It was uncalled for and extremely unprofessional."

"It's alright, I'd feel the same way if someone was getting preferential treatment over me." I softened, turning towards her. "I really am sorry about that, I didn't know we were getting more funding."

She nodded slightly, looking up at me for a second before turning back to the elevator doors again.

"Hey, I'm about to start a new project that I've been cooking up." I said, trying to make friendly with her. "It's a new weapon that you might be interested in."

"If it's a weapon, then wouldn't Dimitri be the better person to ask?" She inquired, looking back at me.

"Vsevolod would be a good choice, but I don't think he's ever worked with plasma before." I remarked, causing a tinge of interest to cross her face.

"Plasma, huh?" She questioned, crossing her arms. "OK, now you have me interested."

"I thought that would." I smiled as the doors to the 22nd floor opened. She looked between the doors and me before hitting the close doors button.

I handed her my ideal schematic, causing her eyes to light up.

"This is insane." She remarked with a small smile creeping onto her face. "This could be devastating if it was deployed properly."

"Yeah, I'm still trying to find a way to keep the plasma in a straight line." I pointed out, handing her the properties list of the synthetic plasma we were going to use. "While it stays inert when stored, it tends to burn off too quickly when exposed to the air."

"I know exactly what your problem is." She said, taking out her datapad and making a quick sketch. "You need a magnetic field to keep the plasma in a stable state. Not only will it last longer, but it will move faster and farther all in the same."

My eyes went up in surprise at her assessment. I hadn't even considered the thought of using a magnetic field, but she thought of it instantly.

"Wow." I exclaimed, looking down at her. "You and I… great things can happen."

"Heh… as long as we keep it professional." She nodded, giving me the faintest smile.

…

Aldrin Station, November 23rd, 9:51 AM, 2180

…

I was nervous today. Not the kind of nervous that simply makes you feel uncomfortable, but the kind that makes your stomach hurt. Dan, Windham, Lynda and I stood on the station's observation with the three admirals who, like us, were waiting for the test run to begin.

The first one I recognized from the recruitment vids, Steven Hackett. He was inspiring in the vids, but in his actual presence I felt like I was working under a titan. He had a gruff, scarred physique that said volumes of what he has gone through over the years.

The second was Admiral Tadius Ahern, who ran some sort of Special Forces training center called Pinnacle Station out in the Argos Rho Cluster. Like Hackett, he was a veteran of the First Contact War and had seen a lot of action against the turians.

The third admiral was the strange one. Her name was Catharine Parangosky. She wasn't like Hackett or Ahern, she didn't talk about her work in the military at all and genuinely creeped me out. She must have been some kind of spook, like the ones from the CIA.

I could tell that neither Hackett or Ahern liked her either, they avoided her whenever possible and stuck to talking to anyone else.

Dan and I were busy talking to Lydia off on the side of the room, having pulled up chairs to her projector. We had already done the meet-and-greet and left our esteemed director, Lynda, to butter the admirals up for us.

"I still can't believe you were crazy enough to turn yourself into a popsicle." I remarked, crossing my arms as a sunk slightly in my chair. "The thought alone creeps the hell out of me. Yeesh."

"I still can't believe you two were crazy enough to work on a device that creates wormholes." She shot back, looking at both of us with cocked eyebrows. "Having myself frozen seems like a far cry from traveling through time."

"Yeah yeah, just don't go blabbing to any of the other staff members about it, that's classified shit right there." I replied, shaking my head as I tried to fight back against a forming headache.

"If it hadn't b…been destroyed, then ima…gine what we could have d-done with it." Dan theorized, looking down at me and Lydia.

"There's no point in reminiscing over it now, it's long gone." I deflected, shaking my head as I thought back to all the time we spent on the project. Dan silently agreed, nodding as Lydia looked between us.

"So Lydia, why don't you make us call you Athena like everyone else?" I asked, trying to change the previous subject.

"Why would I? As far as everyone else is concerned, I'm just Karpyshyn's newest A.I." She replied, crossing her arms as she smiled. "I just got you and my brother back, why would I want anything at all to change?"

"Other than the lack of a body?" Dan added, smiling as he munched on a bag of M&amp;Ms.

"Hey, I never asked to be reduced to computer code." She shot back, looking at her hands briefly. "Still, I can't argue with the results. I've learned so much in the last few days. So much more than I ever could have learned with a "conventional" brain."

"All you need now are one of those super-sleek gynoid bodies, all shiny and sexy…" I remarked sarcastically, creating an exaggerated female figure in the air with my finger. Dan didn't appreciate it very much, and responded to my proposition by slugging me in the shoulder.

"I was just kidding!" I said through a laugh, rubbing my shoulder as mild pain coursed up my arm.

"Sure it was." Lydia deadpanned, looking at me with crossed arms. "If memory serves correctly, you had a thing for robot ladies years ago…"

"Anyways, I heard Karpyshyn was working on some new kind of storage device specially made for you or Powell." I redirected, straightening myself back up again as I very non-subtly tried to change the subject again. "Some kind of crystal/silicon hybrid?"

"Yeah, it'll be portable, about the size of a wallet or possibly even smaller." She said, getting an excited look in her eyes. "We'll be able to fit all our processes on it and still have extra space after the fact."

"Sounds like it…it would be good for subterfuge." Dan added with a grin, rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah, Karpyshyn's main idea behind it is for the A.I. to be both easy to transport and easy to hide." She explained, looking at something unseen to us. "To be honest, it would be very well suited for black operations."

"Heh, he's not going to be putting you into the backs of people's heads, is he?" I snickered, remembering Master Chief from the Halo series.

"No, that's stupid." Dan shot back, knowing what I was referring to.

Our omni-tools beeped, signaling that the test was about to begin shortly. The rest of the project leads arrived to watch the demonstration along with a few technicians and maintenance personnel.

"Well, duty calls." I said, standing up and smoothing out my lab coat. "You going to watch, Lydia?"

"I can watch while balancing twelve other things, don't worry." She smiled as we walked back over to the admirals.

"Well, if this new system you three developed works, then we'll finally have something to hold over the turians and those damn batarians." Ahern commented, letting the smallest amount of prejudice flow through his voice.

"We certainly aim to please." Windham replied with a smile, crossing his arms behind his back.

"I hope you didn't make any mistakes installing the two devices." Parangosky interjected, looking between us three doctors and Lynda. "From these readouts, they have the potential to be rather… catastrophic if not calibrated properly."

"We've already compensated for that, we have a V.I. installed that monitors and regulates the equilibrium between the NM reactor and Gravity drive." Windham explained as we all looked out the window at the frigate.

"I'm excited for the colonization potential behind this new system." I chimed in as the three admirals looked at me. "If we outfit some exploration and colonization ships with this system, we can easily set up shop in star clusters far away from Mass Relays."

"_Director Embry, we are ready for our test run._" Captain Buckell of our newly christened SSV _Explorer_ announced over the intercom. "_Are we cleared for departure?_"

The _Explorer _slithered out of the shipyard in front of us, barely visible past the station due to its black paintjob. The only things making it visible were the running lights, engines, and the task force logo which was a bright, reflective silver.

The task force's logo was simple, it was just a modified Alliance logo where the Earth was replaced by a chemistry beaker. Simple, but effective.

"Captain, you are cleared." Lynda confirmed as the ship sped towards space.

I crossed my fingers. This was the moment where we either went down in history as legends or failures.

The ship's profile shimmered as the gravity drive warmed up and produced its magnetic field. Five seconds later, the SSV _Explorer _blinked from our vision as it jumped to incredible speeds. The status screens all beeped loudly as they lost their connection with the ship, the last recorded readings showing it had gone well past standard FTL speeds.

We all stood there in silence, waiting to see if the _Explorer _would reply back. Right as a sickening feeling manifested itself in my stomach, the radio pinged.

"Well captain, was the test successful?" Lynda inquired as everyone held their collective breaths.

"_Is Pluto usually this gray? I don't remember what color it's supposed to be._" Buckell sarcastically replied back, causing me to laugh out loud.

Everyone who was involved in the project cheered in celebration as the three of us shook hands with the admirals. I was absolutely ecstatic, we had finally found an alternative to Mass Relays!

"Good job to all of you, this is the dawn of a new age for the Alliance." Hackett congratulated, letting a smile form on his chiseled face. "May this day be remembered in history!"

Dan and I gave each other firm handshakes, prouder than words could describe.

We had finally found something to top the Fourth of July of 2014, and I wouldn't trade anything for it.

…

**A/N: So, a lot happened this chapter! Dan finds his sister, Sean and Dr. Ford make friendly, and the test run for the Nemo-Michaels Reactor and Gravity Drive goes off without a hitch! What more can you ask for?**

**Lydia's new appearance is based on Athena from God of War 2, if anyone is curious. Everything is pretty much the same except for the face, which resembles Lydia herself.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.**


	7. Astriction

…

"I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution." (Wernher von Braun)

…

Aldrin Station, December 16th, 12:42 PM, 2181

…

"Alright everyone, break time!" I announced, as we all put whatever we were working on down and headed up the break room. My team today consisted mostly of a few technicians Dr. Mara Ford had brought over from her lab as they tried to work out the kinks with the Plasma Rifle prototype.

A good bit had occurred over the last year. After the successful test of our "Reach System" as it was now being called around the station, everyone had received a huge budget boost, especially Dan, Richard Windham and I. Dan utilized his newfound free time to work on some new device that was supposed to visualize surfaces on the other side of walls, sort of like the classic "x-ray vision" thing Superman had. I had to give him credit, he was determined to make it work. Dr. Vsevolod, or Dimitri as he kept on insisting we call him kept hinting that he and Dan are working on something "special" off to the side.

Lydia had been given a weird lab, one that was very compact and filled with tons of automated equipment. She had gone back to doing medical research, and was currently in the process of trying to find a true cure for Meningitis, a disease that still claimed many lives to this day. It was also rumored that her and Jack were also working on some comprehensive Alzheimer's research due to their specializations in brain chemistry. I imagined that Lydia was having a blast.

Of course Dan and his sister hadn't been the only ones to dabble in multiple projects lately. I had already begun work on the Plasma Gun with the help of Mara. With her along for the project, we'd likely have a working prototype by the next month. It would be awhile before the weapon would be a suitable state for the military, right now it looked more like the Gluon Gun from Half-Life than the Plasma Gun from Doom 3. Still, we were stepping in the right direction. Development had been very steady. We had taken trips to the abandoned iron mines below the surface of Mercury to test various incarnations to great effect. The mines were great testing sites for weapons and such, plus they were very well shielded due to their high metal content.

Aside from the Plasma Gun, I had also begun to dabble in the old exoskeleton tech from the early 2030's, where they actually saw limited use in the military before being deemed too "expensive" and "ineffective" with the advent of gene therapy. Gene therapy had become the standard for Alliance marines, but Citadel regulations had put a stop to any "Master Chief-esq" stuff. I was hoping that the possible reintroduction of exoskeletons could change that. Dr. Winters and I had dug some of the old exos out of deep storage and began upgrading them, essentially. We had already begun extensive testing on our new Mark III's, having volunteers run extensive obstacle courses below the surface of Mercury to help test the full capabilities of them.

"So…" Mara started, crashing in an armchair with a paper cup filled with water. "…when do you think we'll have a presentable model?"

"Eh, a week or two, give or take." I replied, ripping open a bag of chips and shoveling a few in my mouth. "Why?"

"I'm looking forward to presenting something new to the Admirals." She answered, taking a sip of her water as she looked down at the dilapidated model on the center table downstairs.

"What, creating a new form of FTL wasn't enough?" I smiled, looking over at her as two of her techs walked past.

"You, Dan and Jack invented that, not me." She replied, leaning forward with her eyes still glued firmly to the plasma gun. "I'm looking forward to presenting something I worked on."

I had to give the woman credit, she didn't hide the fact that she wanted to promote herself. While she was a good acquaintance and colleague, she made it very clear that she did what she did on this station for her and her alone. I didn't really mind, to be honest. As long as she cooperated with everyone else and didn't discredit anyone or steal anything, I didn't really care what her motives were.

What made it sadder was the fact that she was a beautiful woman and that I was genuinely attracted to her. I seriously doubted that any good would ever come from me trying to ask her out on a date, her personality would likely clash violently with mine. I was in this business for advancing the Alliance, like I had done previously for the USA. She was in it for advancing herself. If anything, she likely still saw me an obstacle and was using my project to help further herself.

This was all pure speculation, of course, but a good scientist always looks ahead and forms ideas when unknown variables are involved.

My mind then drifted off to Sira, who I had worked with just as much as Mara. Being an asari, she was naturally beautiful, but she was a bit… odd. She was flirty and stuff, unlike Mara, but she had this drifty, almost bubbly personality that caused her to do weird things like stare at ceilings or completely break off from regular conversation to talk about the weather on Thessia or Earth. That, and she was still and alien, not a human.

I knew that asari engaged in intimacy by "melding their minds together" to exchange genetic information. To some, that probably sounded awesome. To me, that sounded like some freaky Demolition Man shit. I didn't want someone making scrapple with my mind, especially someone as "in the clouds" as her.

I shook my head, returning my mind to the world around me.

"Yeah, it'll be fun showing that off." I responded, pushing my thoughts aside for the moment.

"How's that bleed-off problem coming along?" She inquired, leaning forward and staring at me.

"Oh, you'll love this." I started, taking a seat across from her. "I solved the bleed-off from the new canisters by adding a small pump behind the injector that increases suction. Not only does it no longer bleed off while firing, but now it should fire even faster than it did before."

"Nice." She smiled, leaning on her arm as she looked back down at the prototype. "I'll have to adjust the magnetic field for the increased rate of fire."

Right as she finished taking, my omni-tool started playing "Let's Go Sunning" by Shaindlin Jack. It was a small inside joke between me and Dan that both of our omni-tools played music from Fallout 3's Galaxy News Radio station as our caller IDs.

"Yeah Dan?" I asked after accepting the call, slightly perplexed by what he could want this time of the day.

"_There's something I've…I've got to show you._" Dan said in a deadpanned tone.

"Dan, we're working in the lab today, you can't just ask me to kick everyone ou-" I started before Dan cut me off.

"_I don't care what you're doing, this is something poten…potentially serious._" Dan repeated, his voice getting slightly more aggravated. "_Close down Delta and get to my quarters. Now._"

I grimaced, closing the line and looking at Mara and the technicians she had brought in. I stepped up onto the coffee table, looking down at everyone.

"Alright, I'm sorry to say this people but we have to close down the lab for the day." I announced, causing murmurs of confusion to move through the room. Mara shot me an annoyed glare. "Finish up whatever you're eating or drinking and please leave the lab."

Everyone grudgingly agreed, shuffling out of the lab after a few minutes. Mara was the only one left, and she looked none too pleased.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded as I locked the lab down with a loud hiss. "We need to work on the plasma gun!"

"Look, I'm really sorry about this, but something else has come to my attention. Something important." I quickly apologized, speed-walking to the elevator. "We can work on it tomorrow."

Mara didn't reply, she just shook her head with a pissed off expression as she stepped in the elevator with me.

Once we had made it back to Residential, I paced myself so Mara wouldn't see where I was going. Once I was sure I was clear of her, I walked over to Dan's quarters and rung the bell.

"_Who is it?_" Dan asked from the other side, grinding my gears.

"Why, it's the gingerbread man of course." I replied sarcastically, crossing my arms. "Who the fuck do you think it is? Let me in!"

Dan quickly opened the door, looking down both ends of the hallway before ushering me in and locking the door.

Dan's quarters were a lot different from mine, to say the least. While I carefully adorned every corner of my quarters with posters, books, or the occasional knick-knack, Dan's was more akin to an explosion of papers, datapads, and trash. Everywhere you looked, there were piles of paper haphazardly scattered around, either plastering his walls, eating up his coffee table, or spilling out onto the floor. His bookshelf was filled with well over three dozen datapads that glowed constantly, giving his back wall an odd orange glow. And the trash… well, let's just say that if Dan had done this while we were rooming in college, I would have killed him. I couldn't imagine what his bedroom must have looked like.

He picked up a pile of papers and moved them off the couch so I could have a seat, plopping them down on top of his kitchen counter. He and I sat down on the couch, and I decided to be the one to start the conversation.

"Alright, what's going on that's so important?" I said, nearly yelling as Lydia popped up on a projector that Dan had placed next to the couch. "Do you realize I had to piss off Mara of all people to get here?"

"There's a leak." Dan deadpanned once again, catching my full attention.

"A leak?" I repeated with a quizzing look on my face.

"Yesterday, I got bored of waiting for my cultures to grow, so I decided to nose my way into the communications grid to see if there was anything interesting. I discovered that someone is sending small data packets through the stream to an untraceable location. " She started, already starting to set off a few alarms in my head. "You want to know what was in those packets, Sean?"

I felt my face drop as I came to the logical conclusion.

"Our work?" I guessed, as both Dan and Lydia shot me acknowledging looks.

"Not just ours, but everyone's." Dan added, handing me a datapad. On it were readouts of all the data that had been transmitted, which Lydia had subtly made copies of before they disappeared. Lydia could get in serious trouble if the director found out she had accessed secure transmissions, and I wasn't about to start mouthing off to other people about this. Now I understood why Dan had been so paranoid when he called me.

"So… what does this mean now?" I asked, looking back at the two of them. Dan just shrugged as Lydia pitched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "We're screwed if we don't report it, we're screwed if we do."

"I don't k-know." Dan replied, running his hands through his hair then scratching the back of his neck with the same hand.

"Well, I know what I'm going to do." I announced, standing up and walking towards the door. "I'm heading back to Delta, and I'm going to make a hard copy of every piece of data we have down there."

"Wait a second…" Lydia ordered, giving me pause as she looked off into the distance. "No, that's can't be right…"

"What is it?" I asked as both Dan and I looked at her.

"I've just found and embedded message inside one of the newest packets." She said as her face became grim. "Listen."

Lydia snapped her fingers as an audio file began playing.

"_Overwatch, something in the station's systems has caught on to me._" The distorted voice announced, pausing for a moment. "_I am formally requesting that the Paperclip Contingency be put into effect._"

My eyes widened as the file finished playing, Dan and I immediately stood up and looked at each other with the same dire faces. We knew what Paperclip meant. It must have been a reference to the U.S. operation during WWII to recruit German scientists. Someone wanted us, and they wanted us now.

"Lydia, how long ago was that packet sent out?" I asked, pointing to her as she looked back down.

"An hour, forty-five minutes and twelve seconds ago." She replied, her eyes twitching slightly as she moved through petabytes worth on information a second. "Someone approved it thirty-two minutes and twenty-eight seconds ago."

Dan and I looked at each other, not knowing what to do. We were about to be or soon to be in a lot of shit.

"Lydia, relay all of this to Powell and send out an emergency broadcast." I started putting together quickly, my mind racing at a frantic pace. "Warn the director first, then the project leads, then everyone else. We need to flush our data if ANYTHING irregular happens on the station, and I mean ANYTHING."

"After you… you do that, get Richard to transfer you t-to one of those chips." Dan ordered, looking fearful as he threw his shoes on. "I'll come for you."

Dan and I scrambled out of his quarters, running down to the elevator and punching in Delta. We needed to get our gear and protect our research. If anyone was in our system, they were likely tracking us. Halfway down the elevator red emergency lights lit up as a violent vibration shook the station.

We were too late. Whoever it was that wanted us, they were already here.

"_Alert! Unknown hostile boarders detected in docking bays! All security intervention teams, report to battle stations! All project leads, destroy all critical data pertaining to projects_!" Powell could be heard through the PA system as the elevator hit Delta. We ran inside, grabbing what gear we needed and throwing on our kinetic barriers. They were simple belt devices that gave us a weak, but potentially life-saving barrier of defense from gunfire.

"This is NOT how I wanted to spend my day!" I shouted as rumbles could be felt vibrating through the station

"Hurry up, we need…need to head over to Alpha and get m-my sister." Dan responded as that protective look seeped into his expression. I couldn't blame him, I'd want to make sure my sister was safe.

I looked back at my plasma gun, feeling a true longing for the beautiful weapon.

There was no way in hell I was going to destroy my only working prototype. I walked over to it, rubbing my finger along the stainless steel. I started off my hefting on the large backpack, which was our current method for storing the plasma. It was about the size of a leaf blower, but it was certainly lighter. From the backpack led a hose directly into the bottom of the rifle, which looked remarkably similar to the one from Doom 3.

"Holy shit." Dan exclaimed, looking at the two glowing plasma cells attached to my back. "T-that thing isn't go… going to explode on us, is it?"

"I hope not." I replied, turning on the rifle. It gave me a low, electrical humming sound as it warmed up, causing a small smile to spread across my face despite the circumstances.

Once we had everything we needed, Dan and I stepped outside of the lab activated the Purge. It was an emergency system which wiped all electronic data down to the hardware and filled the lab with pure oxygen, as opposed to the nitrogen/oxygen mixture we normally used. Once it was filled to capacity, a spark was lit that flash incinerated everything in the room with explosive force. It was a good system, and guaranteed that everything would be destroyed.

We rushed back to the elevators and hopped inside, quickly going up to Alpha. When we had reached the floor, the bodies of security personnel, technicians, and maintenance crewmen could be seen around us. The security had been viciously gunned down, and it looked like the others had been lined up against the walls and shot in the heads.

"Oh god…" I remarked, holding back the urge to vomit at the gruesome sight.

"Come on, we h-have to go." Dan urged, tugging ant my shoulder to keep me moving. I complied, but that image would stick in the back of my head long after this was over.

When we were almost there, we heard someone shouting orders from around the corner. It sounded like a couple of the boarders.

"God damn it, one of the eggheads on the other side keeps changing the codes." I heard someone say as the two of us stacked up on the nearest wall. "Get me some breaching charges! If they won't let us in, we'll make our own way in."

"Boss, I just got word that Echo team didn't reach Delta in time." Another person announced as I looked down the hallway. "Michaels and Nemo torched everything."

The four figures down the hallway looked like paramilitaries. They were well armed, moved in a synchronized and disciplined manner, and didn't bear any markings that I could make out at this distance. There was roughly twelve meters of open space between them and our position, giving us plenty of room to relocate if they came this way.

"Damn it, Blackbird isn't going to be happy about that." Their leader exclaimed, shaking his helmeted head. "What about the rest?"

"Raptor team already secured Windham and Winters, Foxtrot just got their hands on Ford." The second figure answered, standing stiff in the presence of his superior. "Karpyshyn should be inside the lab, and there's still no location on Michaels and Nemo."

I reared my head back, looking over at Dan who was visibly tense already. I had predicted their motives very well, the project leads were their targets. From what we saw back in the elevator lobby, everyone else was expendable. We both knew we had to go through these assholes if we wanted to get into Alpha.

"Alright, I've got a plan." I told Dan, snapping his attention back to me. "You move across the hallway to get their attention. When they get closer, I'll fry them with my new weapon."

"Gotcha." Dan agreed, getting his serious face back on. He took in a few huffs of air before running out of cover and into the middle of the hallway.

"Hey assholes! Looking for me?!" Dan shouted, aiming his pistol down the hallway at them before running to the other side.

"That's one of them, get him!" The leader shouted as heavy metal footsteps could be heard rushing down the hallway. I readied myself, gripping the weapon as hard as I could.

I popped out of cover, immediately unloading the unstable plasma weapon on the three men that had taken the bait. The first trooper was almost instantly gone, having been vaporized from the waist up by a "start-up" burst. Instead of the contained balls of plasma it would have normally fired, it fired what was more comparable to a "cloud", which was caused by the excess pressure of new, unfired plasma cells. The second took several superheated balls of plasma to the chest, instantly bypassing his barriers and causing massive thermal damage. The third scrambled for cover, but was cut down by Dan's handgun before her could make it.

"Son of a bitch!" The leader who had stayed behind shouted. He quickly hid behind cover. "Overwatch, my men are all KIA! I need backup at my location NOW!"

Dan and I rushed him, knowing that we could take advantage of his "capture" orders. We made it to his cover only to see him fall onto his back, pointing his lone pistol at us with a desperate look in his eyes.

"Heh, all the teams will be here shortly." He nervously chuckled, the gun in his hand shaking. "You two should just give up now, maybe they'll go easy on you."

"Maybe they will, but we certainly won't." I remarked as Dan shot a round straight through his helmet, instantly ending his life.

"Piece of shit!" Dan yelled, kicking his body before picking up the rifle that he had been carrying originally.

"_Get in here, quickly!_" Karpyshyn said over the local PA as the doors to his lab slid open. We quickly complied, moving inside the lab as the doors closed behind us.

Inside the lab were about a dozen people, most of them techs. There were a couple security personnel that had made it inside too before everything was sealed. Karpyshyn looked at us with a terrified look plastered on his face.

"Dear god, what is happening?" He asked, shaking so badly that his greasy hair could be seen moving. "I was working on a sample, trying to test some more brain tissue when there was suddenly gunfire, explosions, people dying…I don't feel so well."

"Calm down, we should be safe here for a while." I reassured, looking over at Powell and Lydia's avatars. They could be seen moving frantically as they struggled to deal with multiple things at once, their processes taxed to their maximum. I slid my plasma rifle off, suddenly becoming fatigued.

I put my back against the cold wall, letting myself slid down and hit the floor. Only now did I realize how hard my heart was pumping as I felt my heartbeat all the way to my hands. I took in a deep breath, processing what I had just done.

"_I killed two people._" I thought to myself as I could feel the smallest bit of moisture build up around the edges of my eyes. "_No no, it was justified, Sean. It must have been, you saw what they had done to all other people… but still…_"

I tucked my legs towards my chest and sobbed quietly, still not being able to fully justify what I had just done. I did this for about three minutes before Dan walked back over. I looked back up at him, still sporting his stoic expression.

"What do we do now?" He asked, his expression turning into one of concern as he looked over at his busy sister.

I stared at him for a few second before burying my head again.

"I don't know." I answered truthfully, keeping my head down. "I don't know. All I did was lead us into a dead end."

"No, I'm t-the one that wanted to…to come here, not you." Dan deflected, kneeling next to me. "I pr…promise you, whatever happens, we'll a-all get through this."

"Heh, thanks buddy." I replied, cracking a small smile as he offered his hand to help me back up. I accepted it, getting back on both feet again.

"Oh, that's not good!" Lydia said out loud, attracting our attention.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking hard at her.

"They're going to breach through the ceil-" She began to answer as a loud bang resonated above us, sending shards of metal in every direction. My ears rung as I lost feeling in my left side, sending me falling back to the ground as smoke filled the room. In my dazed state, I looked down to see a shard of metal sticking out of my side, causing it to bleed profusely. I looked at my hand, seeing it covered with my own blood.

My mind was still a total blank despite my obvious critical injury, still to dazed to fully process what was going on around me. I felt Dan tug at me in an attempt to see if I was alright only fall limp to my side. He had been struck with some kind of knockout weapon. My eyes were glued forward as another one of those soldier stood over me, saying something into his helmet's radio before I passed out.

…

Unknown, December XX, unknown, 2181

…

The first thing I noticed when I regained partial consciousness was a familiar voice. I was under the influence of some kind of painkiller, making it next to impossible to even feel the tips of my fingers. Hell, I was under such a heavy feeling that I couldn't even be bothered to open my eyes.

"I said will he recover from this injury, doctor?" The familiar voice asked, sounding annoyed.

"I've managed to seal his wounds, but it will be awhile before he recovers." The second, unfamiliar voice answered in what sounded like a German accent. "I can't tell you when he'll wake up."

"The Illusive Man wanted all the project leads, if he goes into a coma you will not like what happens next." The first voice threatened, sounding even more annoyed. "We can't recruit unconscious people into Cerberus, doctor. It doesn't work that way."

I finally recognized that voice, as a brief feeling of betrayal crossed my drug-addled mind.

"Calm down, Embry. He'll make it through." The second voice reassured, trying to calm her down. "Once the small intestine is finished healing, he should make a full recovery."

"He better." Lynda threatened once again as three sets of footsteps could be heard leaving the room.

My mind, knowing the conversation was over slipped back into sleep, unable to keep me going in this state. One last thing did cross my mind before I went back under.

I would kill that bitch the next chance I got.

…

**A/N: Death, murder, and betrayal! Things have begun heating up in the story, and I can't wait to start working on the next series of chapters. It'll be interesting, to say the least.**

**Summer is going well for me, I've had plenty of time to improve my craft and I think it's beginning to show. I hope you all enjoy the story so far as much as I enjoy writing it.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	8. Mythomania

…

"John Romero's about to make you his bitch." (John Romero)

…

Unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown

…

As I slowly began to regain consciousness, I began to feel a sharp pain in my side. I winced, grabbing it only to feel a large bandage. The only got worse, cumulating in a heavy stabbing pain that reached all the way into my spine. It took all my self-control to keep from screaming out in agony. After waiting for the pain to die down, I looked around where I was, seeing it was a single occupant recovery room. There was no one here, and the lights looked like they were set to night mode.

I slowly swung my feet over the side of the bed, lowering my bare feet down onto the cold metal floor. I shivered, the room was exceptionally cold. The patient monitor was still tracking my stats, but luckily the sticky pads attached to my chest were wireless. I slowly shuffled to the bathroom, wincing in a significant amount of pain with each step. Once inside the bathroom, I locked the door and looked at myself in the mirror.

I looked like absolute hell. I had grown an unruly set of stubble during the time I was out, and my hair was oily and unkempt. I could feel an odd sensation on the back of my neck, feeling it to find an almost healed cut going right down the center. I was also pale, and I meant it. I was so pale I could be compared to Dan, Jack, or even Lynda.

Lynda. That name echoed through my head, reminding me of something that I had an incredible amount of trouble trying to remember. Then it struck me, as I thought back to the attack. She was a traitor, she had sold us out for Cerberus, killed dozens of my colleagues to get to us and only us, the project leads. It all made sense in reflection, Lynda was the only one who had the master codes to the automated defense systems and everyone's labs. It made getting to everything so much easier for them.

I clenched my fist in anger, but quickly calmed myself down. I was barely holding together well enough to walk, let alone plan my former administrator's grisly death. I had no idea what these people wanted from us, but if I was ever going to get out of here and find my friends, I'd have to take it slow.

I sat down on the seat of the toilet, immense fatigue forcing me off my feet.

I could hear the door to the recovery room open as several different sets of feet could be heard making their way inside. Muffled voices vibrated through the wall a few seconds before the bathroom door unlocked, revealing two people wearing medical outfits of some kind.

"Sir! You shouldn't be out of bed yet!" One of them, a woman, exclaimed. She and the other "doctor" or whoever they were tried to approach me, but I instead curled up into a ball to feign helplessness and threw a bar of soap at them.

"Get the fuck away from me! Who the hell are you people?!" I yelled, trying to develop a façade. I was going to make it seem like I didn't know it was Cerberus. "Where is Dan? Where are my friends?"

"Sir, please calm down." The second doctor urged as both of them kept their distance this time. "You are in an Alliance hospital, Lynda Embry will be here soon to explain what happened."

Even though I knew they were lying through their teeth about the Alliance part, I grudgingly accepted their answer. At least for now. I picked myself up and pushed my way past them, not wanting their help. I climbed back onto the edge of my bed with significant difficulty, wincing as the two doctors just stood there with unsure looks on their faces.

I got tired of them both staring at me, so I decided to get at least one of them out of the room.

"I could use some coffee… can I have some coffee?" I asked with genuine shortness of breath, still gripping my side.

"Sure, I can get you some." The man accepted, turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

"So… can you at least tell me what happened to my side?" I asked, trying to keep things calm.

"When you were brought it by a trauma team, you were in critical condition. You had been penetrated by a large piece of shrapnel that barely missed your liver." The woman explained, rubbing her fingers together with an uncomfortable look on her face. "Part of your small intestine had to be reconstructed, but other than that you should make a full recovery."

I sighed, thinking back to that blurry moment. I could only remember a little, and the rest of it was a muddled mess. I remembered the ceiling exploding, a ringing sound, some more of those armored men, and the blood on my hands. I reflexively looked at my hand remembering that part. Then I laughed.

"Man, I can't believe that's how it ended up going down." I smiled, a stupid thought crossing my head. It was likely my subconscious's way of trying to make me feel better about my situation.

"Yes, I'd say you were very lucky to have survived." The doctor added, giving me an odd look.

"No no, you dummy, it's not that." I replied, trying as hard as I could to not laugh. "I… *snicker* lost my virginity to a piece of metal! It's not meant to go that way, it should be the other way around! Ahahahahaha!"

It was a terrible, immature joke, there was no denying that. But there was a method to my madness. While she looked away nervously at my stupid joke, I swiped a syringe of Tinzaparin from the counter next to my bed, about 170mg worth of it. I had taken a peek at it earlier, and recalled that it was a fast-acting blood thinner that was meant for treating clots in the legs or lungs. From what I remembered, recommended dosages ranged up to 20mg, and I had much more than that.

If there was a good opportunity later, I'd try to do things the Sarah Connor way. If whoever was on the receiving end of the stuff didn't cooperate, their blood would go all watery and they'd start bleeding out of every orifice. Hell, if I got the chance I'd gladly pump this shit into Lynda. After what she'd done to all of us, I wouldn't regret it for one second.

After the man came back with a Styrofoam cup of coffee, I took a few sips of it with reasonable satisfaction. It was bland and lacked any sugar or cream, but it would do the job. It wanted it for the caffeine, and that's what I got. I could actually feel the burst of caffeine in my system, helping fully wake me up.

Now I was armed with a weapon and fully aware of my surroundings. All I needed was some clothes, and omni-tool and possibly a gun. They would come later, I'd just have to give it time.

Five minutes later the queen bitch herself, Lynda, finally showed up. She was still wearing her normal outfit, though the ID tag that was normally embedded inside the upper chest was different.

"Dr. Michaels, It's good to see you up." She greeted with a smile, crossing her hands behind her back. I couldn't tell if that smile was genuine or not, so I would just go with fake for now. "After what happened to you, we weren't sure if you'd ever wake up."

"Yeah, I heard I was skewered like a kebab when I came in here." I remarked, still holding my side in minor pain. "What happened? Where is Dan?"

"Dan is alright, don't worry. As far as we know, the attack was staged by Terra Firma extremists who wanted to kidnap our top scientists. " She reassured, setting off several alarms right off the bat. "The defense fleet showed up in time to save all of you, but at the cost of Aldrin Station. They had slipped a bomb onboard and detonated it inside the station's reactor room."

I nodded, mind still racing as to how I was going to handle this. She still had no idea I was in on her lies, which was very good for me. I let go of my side, the sharp pain I had experienced earlier turning into a dull pulse. I felt like I would walk normally now, and maybe even sprint. I'd have to be quick if what I was thinking of was going to work.

"Damn it… well, there goes all our research." I said with feigned sorrow in my voice, letting my shoulders drop. "Well, what's next?"

"I've been knocked from my old position as Director after what happened." She answered, looking down at the ground with a half-assed attempt of sadness. Even by my standards, that was sloppy. "The Admirals have appointed a new director, and a temporary research facility is being prepared. I'm under orders to get you cleaned up for your meeting with him."

Even if I didn't have a clue that she was dirty I would have found this suspicious. Either she was trying to lead me towards something, or she was just getting sloppy. Her boss, the new "director" must have been some sort of Cerberus big shot.

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed, getting back down to the floor and stretching my back. "Where do we go from here?"

"Follow me." She said, as we left the room.

We went through the standard hospital setup until we ended up in another room. It was a simple changing room, and inside was a long table with a box on top of it. Also, there was a shower and sink.

"I'll wait for you to get ready." She remarked, looking inside the room. "Your omni-tool and watch should be in the box, along with a change of clothes."

I nodded, closing the door and locking it behind me. I did a quick sweep for surveillance devices, but failed to find any. Shrugging, I pulled off my hospital gown and hopped in the shower, letting the hot water run over me. The bandages actually turned out to be high-quality skin grafts that had yet to fully adhear to my skin, hence why I couldn't feel them and why they were so dry.

My mind still pondered what would happen next. I was hoping we would eventually enter an elevator, in a space like that I'd easily be able to get to her with the needle. I'd do some kind of impromptu interrogation, find out where everyone was, and hopefully get them out of here.

Once out of the shower, I looked again in the mirror. I observed the stubble on my face, deciding to leave it instead of shaving it. I'd mix things up a little.

In the box was a brand new set of clothes that fit me perfectly. White t-shirt, dark blue jeans, a new lab coat, and oddly enough, boots. After putting them all on, I grabbed my omni-tool and checked to make sure it still worked. While all its functions were still present, it looked as if all my stored research data had been wiped. Figured.

My watch was covered slightly in dried blood, by blood, and was cracked along one of the rims. I slipped it back on anyways, loving the thing to death. The last was my father's old class ring, which I slipped onto the pale part of my ring finger where it was meant to be. I smiled, thinking about my parents for one brief moment before walking back to the door.

I unlocked it, seeing Lynda relaxing on a nearby bench with a datapad. I readjusted myself to keep my impulses under control, I didn't want to lunge out at her right now despite how much my nerves demanded it.

"All ready?" She inquired, standing up and collapsing her datapad.

"Yep." I replied, smoothing out my coat.

We walked a little longer until we ended up at an elevator. I cheered internally as we waited for it to get to our level. I was only going to have one shot at this, and I had to make it count.

The doors slid open, revealing it was empty. It was nice and small too, we'd practically be rubbing shoulders.

We both silently stepped in, Lynda hitting the button for a "Level 4". As soon as the doors slid shut, I sprang into action. I kicked Lynda in the back of one of her legs, causing her to shout out in pain as she fell to her knees. In a single motion, I put my left arm all the way around her head and jabbed her in the neck with the syringe using my right. I had her exactly where I wanted her.

"Wha-t… the FUCK… are you DOING?!" She struggled to shout through my headlock as she looked back at the needle I now had firmly planted in her neck.

"Where are you keeping my friends you damn traitor?" I demanded, twisting the needle just slightly enough to cause her sharp pain. "Where are they?!"

"What… are you t-talking about?" She asked, trying to confuse me. I responded to her stupid question by tightening my grip.

"Don't you try to fucking lie to me, I know you're working for Cerberus." I shot back, quickly hitting the farthest location on the elevator GUI. "Now, unless you want me to pump enough of this shit into you to turn your blood to water, I'd suggest you tell me what I want to know."

Her façade was broken, much to my satisfaction. Now she looked genuinely scared.

"Ok, OK, I'll tell you what you want to know." She quickly agreed, tensing up visibly.

"Where are you keeping the others?" I asked as she stared forward, frozen in fear.

"They're on Level 12, the Detention block." She answered, almost stammering.

"What about the A.I.'s?" I questioned further, determined to get as much out of her as I could.

"Same level, th-they're in the e-equipment room on R-Richard's data cards." She replied, sweat beginning to form on her brow. "Every o-one else's things should be t-there too."

"Thanks for your cooperation." I finished, voice dripping with anger and sarcasm as I injected the Tinzaparin directly into her bloodstream.

"No!" She shouted as I tightened my chokehold, depriving her of all her oxygen. It took a few seconds, but eventually she stopped struggling and fell limp.

I let her fall face first on the ground, not caring what happened to her at this point. I checked her belongings, seeing she had a handgun, a kinetic barrier belt and an access keycard. I took all of these items, along with her own omni-tool and personal datapad.

I punched in Level 12, checking the handgun and the barriers to make sure they were all working properly. Lynda's gun had been equipped with an armor-piercing modification, so if I came up against any armored baddies, I'd have a fair shot at taking them down.

The door to the detention level opened up, revealing a single unarmored guard standing to the side of his desk. The idiot wasn't even armed. He looked over at me as I pointed the gun at him. He immediately threw his hands up into the air in surrender.

"Please don't shoot!" He begged, getting a fearful look in his eyes as I approached him.

"Listen buddy, I'm here to free a few friends of mine." I announced as he looked squarely at my gun. I kicked a trash bin over to block the elevator door, which would hopefully buy me more time. "Now, you either take me to them quickly and quietly or I blow your brains all over the wall."

He nodded very quickly, running over to the nearby door and opening it.

"Take me to the science personnel." I ordered as I followed him through the door. I wasn't going to take any chances, I was keep this guy at gunpoint.

He took me to Cellblock C, opening the security door with a small hiss. I couldn't risk having him around anymore when I would be releasing my friends, so while his back was still turned, I whipped him in the back of the head with the handgun, knocking him cold. I dragged him inside in case any guards walked by.

I ran down the small cellblock, looking for their cells.

"Come on, come on, come on, where are you guys?" I asked out loud as I looked down the line of cells. After passing several unlabeled ones, I eventually found Dimitri's cell. I took Lynda's card out and swiped it. The door opened, revealing Dimitri "The Bear" Vsevolod. He was wearing an orange prison outfit that looked like it barely fit him, and he was pissed.

He leapt at me, tackling me to the ground with very little force. I felt my side scream in pain as I yelled out, trying to stop him.

"Dimitri! It's me! It's Sean!" I yelled quickly just as he was about to sock me in the face with one of his massive fists.

"Sean?" He questioned, looking harder at me before a smile spread across his face. He then pulled me in for a tight hug, squeezing all the air out of my lungs. "Sean! My friend!"

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too, Dimi." I managed to squeak out before he released me.

"Those Cerberus hounds told us you had died in the attack." He recalled, looking up and down the cellblock. "Where have you been?"

"Healing." I replied bluntly, lifting up my shirt to reveal the half-healed skin grafts on my side. "I only woke up about an hour ago."

I then began coughing really hard as I felt something try to push its way up my windpipe. It sounded bad, and Dimitri knew it too.

"Are you alright?" He asked, putting as hand on my back as I got down on one knee.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." I answered as the cough subsided, handing him the guard's keycard. "Here, help me find the others. We don't have much time."

He took the card in confirmation as we both looked for more of our colleagues. He found Jack and Mara, while I found Richard and Sira. All that was left was Dan.

I opened his cell, seeing him sitting on the edge of his cot with his hands covering his face. He looked up at me, looking extremely confused before standing up.

"Sean?" Dan said out loud in a quizzing tone, slowly walking towards me. "But… I saw y-you go down during the attack."

"I got better." I replied with a smile, walking over and giving him a big hug. He still looked shocked, but he did seem to relax a bit.

"I thought you were dead." He remarked in disbelief, still looking at me like I was a ghost as his eyes began to water up.

"I was only mostly dead." I said with finality, walking back towards the door. "Come on, we still need to get Powell and your sister."

That jolted him back to speed, as we both ran back to the group that was waiting by the entrance.

"Alright, we need to find the equipment room, that's where they put the A.I.s and our equipment." I laid out, looking at all six of my colleagues. "Once we have our stuff, we'll find a way out of here. Anyone know where we are, anyway?"

"I believe we're on a space station." Sira answered, causing me to look back at her. "One of the soldiers who kidnapped us mentioned a place called Minuteman Station."

"Alright, thanks. So we know that much." I nodded to her, looking back at everyone else. "Anything else anyone thinks I should know?"

"Yes, I heard that they hijacked our _Explorer _during the attack." Dimitri added, crossing his arms as he looked down at me. "I helped design security systems for the ship. If it is docked here, I can get us all onboard."

"Sounds like we're getting dangerously close to a plan." I forced myself to smile in an attempt to push the pain in my side away.

"Are you sure if we should be running around a station filled with terrorists?" Mara inquired with a scared look on her face. "I'm not sure if they'll try to take us captive again if they find us."

"We don't really have much of a choice by this point." I replied, thinking back to what I had done. "Considering our former administrator is lying face-first on the floor of an elevator with a potent blood thinner in her body, we won't have one even if they do catch us."

"You did WHAT?" Mara exclaimed before Dan nudged her to remind her to keep quiet.

"I'll explain it later." I said, shaking my head as I winced again in pain, handing Dan the handgun the guard from the lobby had lazily left on the counter. "We need to move."

Motioning for everyone to follow me, we left the cellblock and made out way to the equipment room. We had almost made it until we saw the door was guarded by two of the troopers from before. They were armed with what looked like Avengers, were talking to one another casually, and weren't close enough to take down silently.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." I remarked with some bitterness, checking the handgun once more before looking back up to Dan. "You take the one on the left, I'll take the right."

"Ok." He agreed with a newfound sense of determination in his voice as his face hardened.

"On my mark… three… two…-" I started to count down before both guards suddenly jolted to attention. "Wait."

The looked to each other, listening to something we couldn't hear through their helmets. They then nodded to one another, bringing their rifles back up and running down the opposite hallway.

"They must have found her." I predicted, motioning my head towards the door. "Come on, let's get everything we need before they find out where we are."

I ran over to the door, swiping Lynda's card which gave me instant access. We all slipped inside, locking it again behind us.

We weren't expecting what was inside. Inside this room must have been the biggest trove of tech I had ever seen, and this was coming from someone who had previously worked in the most well-funded Alliance research facility in the galaxy. It looked as if they had grabbed as much from Aldrin as they could during the attack and brought it all here. Everything we had worked on, from my prototype plasma gun to the device Dan and Dimitri had been working on, it was all here.

And that wasn't all. The place was filled to the brim with weapons and armor, enough to arm a whole colony in the Traverse. Being a self-professed gun-nut myself, I was tempted to take as many of the weapons as I could, but remembering the situation we were in, I snapped myself back to attention.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do." I started, grabbing everyone's attention. "We're going to suit up, grab whatever we need, and find a way off this station. I know some of you haven't been in combat before and have no desire to be in it, but we're short on options."

Everyone gave me varying levels of acknowledgment, moving as quickly as they could to find everything they needed. We found the cards that held Powell and Lydia respectively, and luckily Jack had built a card reader specifically for interacting with them. They would have to wait for now, though they could potentially help us escape.

I found one of the hard suits that the soldiers had used during the attack. It was shiny, actually glistening in the light of the room. Being standard, it was the thickest where there was the least amount of movement, and the thinnest where more movement was required. It didn't really matter, it would work for what I was going to do. I eventually figured out how it went on, surprised by how easy it actually was.

It was a perfect fit for me, going on like a glove. It was odd wearing something that hugged my body like it did, but it was more than I had before. Next came the lone exo that had survived the attack. I called Sira over and had her help me put it on, it being a little intensive and cumbersome. Once attached and activated, it felt as light as air.

"Now this feels good." I remarked with a smile, clenching my fist. I finished everything off by putting on a helmet, giving me a full HUD that tracked vitals, weapon status, and various other bits of info. It was also handy because it tracked everyone else's status.

"_Warning: Internal Bleeding Detected._" The built-in VI informed me, and me alone. "_Please seek medical attention._"

"Shut up." I remarked out loud, shutting off the alert as I winced in pain once more. "I don't have time to bleed."

"Hah, it w-works just like I planned!" A fully-armored Dan remarked, holding some sort of device in his left hand. "I can see ev…everyone in the room, e-even behind the walls!"

I shook my head with another smile, hefting the still loaded plasma gun on once more. Since I had magnetic rails on my back this time, I didn't have to worry about slinging it over the exo. Truly, I felt like one big badass.

Now all of us were wearing identical sets of armor, only being able to tell each other apart by our HUD ID's. Dan, Dimitri, and I were itching for a fight, but the others certainly were not. We'd still have to try and avoid fights if at all possible.

That prospect was shattered as a station-wide alarm sounded, triggering red emergency lights that bathed the darker areas in a sickly red glow.

"Time to get the hell out of here!" I yelled, opening the door and leading the charge. We all ran down the hallway, actually needing to pace myself so I didn't go to fast. We made it all the way back to the lobby to find a squad of Cerberus troopers sitting in wait.

We all took cover just as a hail of gunfire whizzed over our heads. In response, us three combatants simultaneously armed grenades and chucked them around the corner. I smiled as I heard screams of agony, all the troopers being blown to bits by the grenades. We quickly ran through the destroyed lobby, piling in the nearest elevator. Unfortunately, it was locked down.

I loaded Powell's chip into the reader, seeing his hologram pop up on the little display.

"Powell, there is no time to explain what exactly is going on." Richard said, looking down at the obviously confused A.I. "We're going to put you into an enemy's computer system. When inside, you need to disable the elevator lockdown and find out if the SSV _Explorer_ is here at the station."

"Yes sir." He agreed, giving us a quick salute.

"And one more thing, Powell." I stopped, getting him to look at me. "Do whatever you can to keep the enemy away from us. Vent them, give them false orders, whatever you can do. No one is friendly."

He nodded as I took his chip out of the reader, instead inserting it into the elevator's system. From here, he'd be able to get anywhere on the station that wasn't behind a firewall.

A few seconds later, the elevator lit up again and we punched in the level for their docks.

"It looks like the _Explorer_ is still here, doctor." Powell announced, appearing on a nearby monitor. "It's docked in cradle 3, close to the elevator lobby. I'm trying to redirect any combatants from the area, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Thanks Powell." Richard said, as his image flicked away and left us in silence.

We all just stood there as the subtle hum of the elevator droned on in the background.

"So… am I the only one that noticed how slow these elevators are?" Richard commented, actually getting a chuckle out of a few of us.

"They used to be faster." Jack responded, crossing his arms. "I remember the old prototype ones that used eezo to keep everyone planted on the floor. There were a lot of broken necks, let me tell you."

"Is this your new thing, Jack?" Mara inquired, crossing her arms too. "First phase gates vs. mass relays, now old elevators vs. new elevators?"

"Bah, you kids don't know the struggle we went through back when they found all that crap on Mars." Jack dismissed, waving his hand.

"I remember humanity had a fair amount of difficulty tapping into the potential of Element Zero." Sira began, looking at Jack. "What did you witness when it all began?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." Jack once again dismissed, actually getting chuckles out of all of us, save Sira.

"What? I don't understand." She replied with what I imagined was quite the puzzled look.

"Heh, I'll explain it later." Mara reassured as our floor came up.

"Get ready." I ordered, everyone tensing up as the doors slid open. There was nothing but empty space in this floor's lobby, much to my relief.

"Come on, we must move!" Dimitri led, waving us all towards the docking hub.

Almost to the hub, I began to dry heave as my lungs burned. I got down on my knees again, plucking off my helmet as I coughed violently. I tasted blood, looking down at my hand to see just that covering my glove.

"_Warning: Internal Bleeding Detected._" The VI repeated again, this time out loud. "_Seek medical attention immediately._"

"Come on, man." Dan urged, pulling me back up to my feet. "Once we're on that s-ship, we'll be home… home free."

I nodded, securing my helmet again as we all piled at the large door.

"I wasn't able to clear everyone out of the hub, but there are only a few of them inside." Powell informed us on the door's monitor. "You should be able to take care of it, though I will warn you that once you go in there the whole station will know where you are."

"Gotcha." I agreed, taking out his chip and putting him back inside.

We all burst inside, taking down the guards at the front desk with relative ease. There were six men in total, four armored and two… not so much. I fired my plasma gun as the closest two, frying them instantly before they could duck down. Dan cut down one of the light ones with his pistol before Dimitri cut them down with a LMG of some sort. Another alarm sounded shortly afterwards, telling us everything we needed to know.

We needed to get out of here now or else we'd be swarmed.

We all ran like mad people down the hallway, determined to escape this blasted place. We ran past cradle 3's large window, seeing the _Explorer_ docked outside. We all rand down the docking tube to find it was indeed in lockdown.

"Hold on a bit." Dimitri announced, opening up his omni-tool and running a bypass.

We all stood there for a minute as commotion could be heard getting louder in the distance.

"Come on, little bird, daddy's home…" He quietly urged, as the door gave us a green light.

"Inside, now!" I yelled as we all ran into the decon chamber. I plucked Powell's chip back out again, putting him directly into the ship's system.

"Powell, fire up the engines and get us out of here!" Richard yelled as the decon mist drifted down onto our armor, evaporating the moment it made contact.

"Yes sir!" He agreed as a rumble could be felt vibrating through the ship. I felt a slight sense of g-force as we accelerated, escaping the clutches of Cerberus. "Jump successful, doctor. We have escaped."

All of us threw up our arms in unanimous glee, giving each other hugs and such. Not me. I started feeling dizzy, wobbling a bit before I fell over and blacked out once more.

…

**A/N: The survivors have escaped! I really tried to improve my style, making an effort to improve Sean's internal monologue and show how his mind breaks things down. It worked pretty well, I think. I had a lot of fun writing this one.**

**I'd like to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who migrated over from my old story/account to check out Murphy's Law! I know a lot of you may had been disappointed that I didn't finish TOOO, but I can guarantee you this WILL be finished and it WILL be written to a much higher standard than TOOO ever was.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	9. Heat

…

"It worked." (J. Robert Oppenheimer)

After the detonation of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico.

…

SSV _Explorer_, February 2nd, 10:45 PM, 2182

…

I sat forward in my bed, breathing slowly as I felt my side once again. It was still rough, breathing after what I had done to myself. During our narrow and disjointed escape, I had accidentally opened a small part of my intestine back up, letting blood pour into places it wasn't supposed to. It eventually got into my lungs, shortening my breath to the point I couldn't keep conscious.

Dimitri picked my sorry ass up and carried me all the way down to the ship's med bay, stripping my armor off and putting me inside one of the automated ICUs standard on most Alliance ships. Since Cerberus had stripped the ship's systems of all Alliance data, including Vis, Dan put Lydia into the system. Seeing as how she hadn't been in a system since then, she was obviously confused. After her brother gave her a quick explanation, she started up the unit and stitched me back up again.

I didn't wake up until a day later, when everything had settled down to a reasonable degree. Not my choice, mind you. Lydia didn't want me moving around for a while. Once I had arisen, I got the rundown on what happened while I was out in that hospital.

Once their attack was finished, Lynda had her cronies blow up Aldrin Station with a series of demolition charges. They had been placed on the reactor level next to the Nemo-Michaels that had been installed. Once the charges went boom, it set off a chain of explosions that leveled the whole facility and any other remaining members of Cerebellum. Everyone onboard died.

Lynda then tried to force the others to work for Cerberus. To say the least, she didn't succeed. Every one of the project leads denied despite all the threats leveled at them. This persisted for about a month until every member of our team had been imprisoned due to their security risk. I had actually busted them out at the best possible time, this "Illusive Man" character was going to have them all put on ice until further notice. Of course, that was before I got them out of there.

There was one thing we knew for certain. Cerberus wanted us alive. They were willing to destroy a top-level Alliance research base to capture us, and their ploy almost worked.

They didn't count on me, though.

Now we had other problems. Apparently this Minuteman Station we had escaped from was located smack-dab in the middle of the Terminus Systems. The Terminus, as far as I knew, was basically the wild west of the galaxy. It was filled with pirates, mercenaries, crazies, and all the illegal shit a psychopath could dream of.

Dimitri, being a former Alliance marine and starship navigator knew that Alliance warships were strictly prohibited from entering the Terminus systems, both by the Citadel Council and the Alliance itself. Both parties were shit scared of provoking the mercenary factions in the region, fearing that if they intruded on their territory, they'd might be able to pull together their forces enough to be a threat.

What this all amounted to was us having to slowly snake our way around certain star clusters in an attempt to avoid said mercenaries and pirates. It didn't matter if this was a warship or not, if any determined mercs or pirates came across us they would surely try to claim us as their next "prize."

We really didn't want that. All we wanted to do was get back to Alliance space.

I sat in the med bay, reading some of the e-books I had downloaded before the attack. I was currently in the middle of reading 1984, a frightening book about a dictatorship that suppresses all emotion in its citizens in an attempt to keep them loyal and docile. It was a scary world poor Winston lived in, but I took comfort in the fact that 1984 had long since passed.

The door on the other end of the room opened, and Mara walked in looking at me. Knowing that she was most likely coming over to speak to me, I closed my omni-tool and got comfortable.

"So… how's the sitting around and doing nothing going?" She asked, walking over with her hands in her pockets and a smile on her face.

"It's going remarkably well, I must say." I answered with a smug look on my face, resisting the urge to touch my side. "How bout' you? What are you doing in the absence of a proper lab?"

"Oh, reading, watching movies, bothering other people... the works." She shot back, giving me a bemused look.

I let off a small huff, shaking my head as I smiled. Then a new thought creeped in.

"Tell me… how come you were always so combative with other people before all this happened?" I asked, looking into her bright green eyes.

She looked at me for a few seconds before frowning and taking a seat next to me in a chair.

"Well… after they put me in confinement, I had a lot of time to think about a few things." She started, looking down at the ground as she pulled her legs up to her chest. "I haven't been… the nicest person over the years. I've hurt a lot of people to get where I am today, and I never gave it a thought. Not once."

I looked at her, keeping quiet as she opened up to me.

"Being in that situation, seeing those people butcher my colleagues without a second thought… It caused something to click into place that day." She said slowly before looking at me once again. "I have friends. I have friends, and I care about them. I never realized it until they were already gone."

I nodded, giving her a gentle pat on the back.

"You still got all of us." I remarked, giving her a soft smile.

"Yeah, I do." She smiled, putting her hand on my blanketed leg. "Well, I need to get some sleep. See you tomorrow."

"See ya." I finished, watching her stop at the door for another look at me before closing it.

I sat there in silence for a few minutes, thinking about what she said before shutting off the main lights and drifting to sleep.

…

SSV _Explorer_, February 4th, 8:15 AM, 2182

…

Today I was released from bed rest, much to my delight. My side had healed up nicely and I could barely feel anything at all, let alone any pain from my previous injuries. Lydia informed me that I should still take it slow, warning me against any heavy physical activity like running or even stretching. Of course, the first thing I elected to do with my newfound freedom was explore the ship.

Outside the med bay, there was a large mess hall with lockers, weapon racks, and its own kitchen off to the side. Opposite to the med bay was an empty storage room. On any normal Alliance warship, the place would be bustling with off-duty marines, but here the place was eerily vacant. That disturbed me slightly, making me think about the movie Alien for a brief moment.

Normally a ship of this size and class, especially with the stuff we and the engineers stuffed in the back, would have been extremely difficult to maintain without a trained crew. Luckily for us, we had Powell and Lydia. I supposed they could also double as MOTHER, minus the "crew expendable" bit.

Behind the mess were two elevators and two short hallways that led to the crew quarters. I suspected that most of the others were likely still sleeping, especially Dan, so I decided to hold off on taking that route. I instead jumped into one of the elevators to go visit the hangar.

Everything in this ship was surprisingly compact, despite its fair size. While the two sides of the ship that "fanned out" had areas of their own, it mostly consisted of weapon systems and armor plating. It had been lightly armed, loaded up with GUADIAN systems fit for anti-fighter support and a marine detachment for ground insertion.

That changed quickly when we had gotten our little mitts into the clockwork. While I didn't have a lot of involvement, Dan and I did contribute the NM reactor along with Jack's Gravity Drive. Dimitri on the other hand… heh.

He saddled the ship up with a ton of extra titanium armor, installed more powerful shield emitters to make use of the surplus power output, and replaced 75% of the GUARIAN batteries with 250mm cannons. Two were housed inside specially-designed turrets, and there were three turrets on both sides of the ship.

Now that I thought about it, we'd be able to kick the shit out of anything smaller than us.

After the agonizing wait on the elevator, the doors finally slid open to reveal the hangar. It was small, even by Alliance standards. It would barely be able to hold two of those M35 Mako tanks, and even I thought that was depressing. They had to extend the engineering section's walls out farther to accommodate the Reach System, eating up the space the cargo bay once had.

It felt more like a small basketball court now, one filled with crates of supplies and heavy equipment.

Inside the engineering section, it was easy to see why they needed the extra space. Our Gen-II NM Reactor was twice as big as our first one, easily taking up the same amount of space as two of those water turbines from Hoover Dam. It was an interesting design we came up with. The first half of the reactor was a miniaturized fusion plant, it hung above the main engineering area and looked akin to the large Arc Reactor from the first Iron Man movie. The big difference was that instead of bolts of electricity, streams of bluish plasma swirled counter-clockwise around the main chamber.

The second part was the Eezo Core, which had to be given its own specially-designed containment structure due to the potential for a catastrophic energy release with all the plasma that fed it. It was situated where it normally would have been, in the back of the room. Humming, it visibly vibrated as mist from the cooling systems slowly drifted about. It was connected to the fusion reactor with a series of pipes and wires that ran along the ceiling haphazardly, only decipherable by their color-coding.

The gravity drive was the most interesting, even if it did look like a freaking tape dispenser. It sat directly opposite from the Eezo Core in front of the hangar. It had a constantly spinning center section that would produce a gravity field when going on full power, projecting said field outside of the ship in a fast, violent burst. I heard it was actually quite pretty to watch from inside the ship. It was collected to the Fusion Reactor via large electrical wires that ran up the wall.

All three of these barely left any room for the maintenance systems, hence why they needed to make the room bigger. Still, the U-shaped walkway that snaked both doors together was barely big enough for three people to stand next to each other.

I walked back out to the hanger to find Dimitri was here, doing push-ups in the open part of the hanger. He was dressed in a simple black tank top and standard combat trousers, switching between arms as he moved up and down.

"Ah, hello." He greeted during a pause, shooting me a smile.

"Hi Dimi." I replied with a smile, walking over and leaning on one of the hanger supports as I watched.

"I see our fair maiden Athena released you from her clutches." He grunted out in his usual accent as he continued to do push-ups. "What brings you down here so early in the morning, my friend?"

"Curiosity." I replied matter-of-factly, crossing my arms. "You know… I had never actually set foot on this ship until recently."

"It is a beautiful ship, is it not?" He commented, standing up and taking a deep gulp from his water bottle as he looked around. "Imagine if we had gotten our hands on one of those "stealth systems" the turians are rumored to be developing."

"Heh, all we'd need is some sort of large-scale cloaking device to hid us visibly." I remarked, holding out my hands as I imagined a billboard. "The ultimate stealth ship!"

"A cloaking device! Now there's an idea." He smiled, rubbing his chin in thought.

I thought about his accent for a second, then another thought crossed my mind.

"Hey Dimi, I never actually asked where you grew up." I said, sitting down on the floor as he began to do crunches.

"Why do you ask?" He inquired, looking up at me.

"I dunno, why not?" I replied, shrugging. "I just like to know the people I work with."

He looked at me again for a moment before shrugging in acceptance.

"Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Born and raised." He answered quickly before doing another crunch.

"How'd you end up working in a science division?" I inquired further, genuinely curious.

"That's a bit of a story. My parents sent me to SibFU to get a higher education. They did not want me to work in a factory or chemical plant." He answered, looking forward for a moment before continuing. "I could not find work in Krasnoyarsk with my doctoral, so I opted to join Alliance instead. A few years later, I was approached for the position at Aldrin and I took it."

I nodded, looking down at him as another thought crossed my mind.

"What do you think's going to happen when we reach Alliance space today?" I asked, causing him to completely pause.

"To be honest, my friend, I have not a clue." He answered with a slightly worried look on his face. "We were part of heavily classified projects, they may shoot us on sight for all we know."

"Why would they do that?" I asked, not believing how cynical he was suddenly.

"Think about it. We get taken by terrorist organization, gone for two months, classified information stolen…" He mused, looking down at the ground before looking back up at me. "Even if we are still valuable, we'd likely be considered security risks and shot. I'd be easier for them that way."

"If you're so sure about that, then why didn't you tell the others?" I asked, trying to figure out his thought process.

"I did." He corrected, looking harder at me. "We all took a vote. I suggested that we instead go to Citadel, but only Jack agreed with me. Everyone else wanted to immediately return to Alliance space."

I pondered what he said for a minute before looking back to him.

"Well, I guess all we can do is hope it doesn't come down to that." I said with some reassurance, getting back on my feet. "I'm going to go see if I can wrangle myself up some breakfast."

"Heh, удачи." He remarked, causing me to stop in my tracks and look at him in confusion.

"That's "good luck" in Russian." He smiled, before returning to his crunches.

"Well, you learn something new every day." I said with a smirk, stepping into the elevator and punching in the crew deck. I silently cursed the speed of the elevators I've encountered around here before the doors opened, revealing the CIC.

The entire room was lined with control consoles for various systems, all of which were of course empty. A large holographic projector sat in the center of the room before it tapered off into a long hallway. That hallway led to the "bridge" or "cockpit" area where the pilot, communications and radar consoles all sat. Every space here was accounted for, though a lot of empty space did still exist here and there.

I took a seat in the pilot's seat and reclined back, staring up at the stars as they passed.

…

SSV _Explorer_, February 4th, 2:11 PM, 2182

…

"Disengaging Gravity Drive in three… two… one." Dimitri announced from the pilot's chair as Jack and I sat to his sides in the communication and radar stations respectively.

The ship shuttered slightly as the space outside our ship returned to normal space, the gravity field dropping and removing the distortions.

We had finally reached Alliance space after several days, reaching a little colony known as Eden Prime. It was fortunate that the colony was so close to the Terminus, despite how dangerous that was in the long run. It didn't really matter to us, a port in the storm was all we were looking for.

"There it is, Eden Prime." Jack commented with a smile on his wrinkled face. "Great little vacation spot."

I nodded with a smile, looking at the radar in my usual, paranoid way. That's when I saw something that only fueled said paranoia.

"Um… Dimi? I thought you said Eden Prime only had a small patrol guarding it." I remarked, looking over my shoulder at him.

"It does, why?" He inquired, looking down at my console.

"I'm asking because it looks like the whole Seventh Fleet is orbiting the planet." I explained as his eyes went wide in surprise. He leaned over in his seat to get a better look at my console. Sure enough, he caught glimpse of the several dozen ships orbiting the blue/green planetoid.

Just as he went to say something, Jack's console lit up with comm chatter.

"_SSV Explorer, identify yourself immediately or you will be destroyed._" A mildly familiar voice inquired over the priority channel, having overridden our comm grid.

"This is Dr. Dimitri Vsevolod, ID Number 898038. We have escaped from the group known as Cerberus and request assistance." Dimitri quickly announced over the channel.

"_Doctor, are all the other project leads present on the ship?_" The voice inquired as Admiral Catharine Parangosky appeared on the vidcom.

Dimitri's face dropped slightly as those words entered his ears. He was extremely worried, and that didn't bode well for me or Jack. It took a lot to worry The Bear.

"Excuse me for a moment, Admiral." Dimitri paused the vidcom, looking down at me. "What ship belongs to her?"

"It looks like they're being led by the SSV _Elbrus_, an Everest-class dreadnought_._" I announced, looking hard at all the contacts on my screen. "Powell, keep your scanners up and look out for anything suspicious."

"Understood." His disembodied voice agreed, as Dimitri looked harder at me. I nodded.

"All project leads are present and accounted for, Admiral." Dimitri reluctantly replied after turning the vidcom back on. The pale woman looked off to the side, saying something inaudible.

"_Good. Now power down all your engines and weapons, doctor_." Parangosky ordered, folding her hands behind her back. "_Gather your crew and prepare to be boarded_."

"I am afraid I cannot do that, Admiral." Dimitri slowly denied as the Admiral gave him the stink eye.

"_Why is that, doctor?_" She shot back, getting a condescending tone in her voice.

"I'm not going to do that because if you didn't intend to have us killed, you wouldn't have brought a combat fleet and a dreadnought." He replied, as the Admiral cut the connection.

"Well, I guess that's our answer." I remarked with a frown, as Jack's console lit up with even more comm chatter.

"Fighters are being deployed and I'm detecting energy transfer to weapon systems!" Powell announced as Dimitri sounded the alarm.

"Everyone get strapped in down there, Admiral Parangosky wants us dead and she's sending the whole Seventh Fleet after us!" I announced over the ship's announcement system as I felt a light lurch in my stomach as Dimitri swung the ship around.

"Athena, how long until we are able to jump again?" Dimitri asked as he fired the engines as hard as he could.

"One minute to jump charge. Two if defense systems are in use." Lydia answered, looking just as worried as the rest of us as she appeared on the projector next to me.

Vibrations could be heard through the hull as the fighters caught up with us. Powell fired the remaining GUADIAN systems, their infrared lasers burning away at their critical systems and forcing them to back off. It wasn't enough, though. The sheer number of fighters beginning to bear down on us was too much for the kinetic barriers to handle.

Several missiles got through the GUADIAN grid, impacting on our starboard side.

"Сукин сын!" Dimitri yelled loudly in Russian, veering the ship sharply towards port. "глупые ублюдки!"

"What?!" I inquired out loud as the maneuvering thrusters fired.

"Never mind!" He dismissed loudly as more thuds could be heard impacting off our barely-holding barriers.

"One minute to charge!" Lydia announced as a very heavy vibration shook the ship. It rocked me out of my seat, causing a brief burst of pain from my side before I pulled myself back up.

"What the hell was that?" Jack asked, his face twisted in confusion.

"They're firing their main guns!" Powell announced as pinpoints of light could be seen coming from the ships in the rearview camera.

In an attempt to throw off their aim, Dimitri fired off the emergency thrusters to propel us into different trajectories. He fired them so much that alerts were beginning to sound off all over the ship.

"Thirty seconds!" Lydia announced once more as alarms rung in my ear.

"Give me a random vector back into the Terminus and make it a far away as you can!" Dimitri ordered as the fighters tried to close back in to finish off our barriers.

"Come on, get us out of here!" Jack yelled, beginning to panic.

Dimitri focused on the space in front of us as the magnetic field went up, enveloping the ship and distorting the view of everything around us. We jumped to FTL speeds, the stars outside peeling away and instantly being replaced with new ones.

Everyone on the bridge sat in silence for a few minutes, all of us panting and sweating profusely. I had to roll up my sleeves and place my forehead on the cold, metal dash I was so hot. Dimitri sat forward and let sweat drip off his face onto the floor as he stared blankly forward. Jack had his hands on his chest and panted heavily, his white and gray hair sticking to the sides of his head.

"Powell… damage report?" I asked, clutching my side once again as the pain slowly dulled away.

"Turrets 1 and 2 on the starboard side of the ship are gone. Both GUARDAN arrays are fried." Powell listed off, as I stared up at the window above me. "About 62% of the emergency thrusters are fused and require complete replacement. Minor damage all over the rest of the ship."

"How about the reactor?" I asked, staring up at the stars.

"Reactor is holding steady, though the heat inside Engineering is around 97° F." He continued to list off, as Jack got up and left the cockpit. "Shall I activate emergency coolers?"

"Do it." I replied, rubbing my forehead as yet another headache began to form.

I got up and walked over to Dimitri, who was still hunched over in exhaustion.

"You alright?" I asked, still panting as I looked down at him.

"No, I am not." He remarked bitterly, shaking his head before standing back up. "Come, let us check on the others."

I nodded, following him as Lydia and Powell took over.

The inside of the CIC, which had previously been clean and uniform was now a complete mess. The vibrations had shook many panels off the walls and damaged electrical conduits. Wire bundles hung haphazardly from parts of the ceiling as lights either flickered on and off or were completely gone.

The mere thought of having to fix all of this alone made my headache worse.

Jack was sitting next to the elevator, too exhausted to get back to his feet.

"I create… the Gravity Drive… and this is… what I get?" He remarked through breaths, clutching at his chest. "Unappreciative… bastards…"

"Come on, we got to go check on the others." I urged as Dimitri and I picked him up by the armpits and carried him inside the elevator.

As the elevator descended, my mind raced as to what we would do next. I thought hard about it, and came to only one logical conclusion. We needed to find a place that offered security, seclusion, and contained people that we could help.

The Quarians. The Migrant Fleet.

…

**A/N: Well, the Alliance has foolishly turned it's back on the remains of Cerebellum, and the team is on the run yet again. What will happen when Sean brings up his idea? What will happen to their ship? Only time will tell.**

**For anyone who is curious, deviantART user nach77 has allowed me to use his Alamo-class Light Frigate design as a basis for the SSV **_**Explorer**_**. If you want to check it out, search Alliance Frigate - Alamo Class on deviantART. Make sure to tell him what you think of it!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	10. Escapism

…

"One day things will change, my friend. Soon it will be their land, their people…their blood." (Reznov, Call of Duty: World at War)

…

SSV _Explorer_, February 4th, 3:58 PM, 2182

…

"You must be crazy." Richard commented with a disbelieving tone to his voice. "You want us to go to the quarians of all people? Why?"

"I'm telling you, it's our best option." I urged, looking at everyone gathered here. "I think the Council species are too well connected with the Alliance. All the Alliance would need to do is demand we be handed over. They've already labeled us."

"Yeah, but what about their isolation from the rest of the galaxy?" Sira backed him up, waking around to face me. "If they thought we could be handed over for a price, they'd surely do it."

"Oh please, qu-quarians have m-more honor than that!" Dan defended loudly, pointing his finger at her. "Just because they cr…created the Geth, I swear!"

"Everyone calm down!" Dimitri bellowed, holding out his hands between us. He took a deep breath before looking to the holographic projectors in the center of the mess tables where Lydia and Powell were silently arguing between one another. "We should ask our resident A.I.s what they think. They have the most to lose here."

They looked as us when they heard they were mentioned, turning their audio on.

"We've been going over our options here, and we both agree with Sean." Lydia chimed in with Powell behind her. Sira and Richard both turned on their heels in denial as everyone looked attentively at the A.I.s.

"Despite the quarians and their hatred for A.I., we're confident we can remain hidden in the ship's systems and appear as simple Vis." Powell added, crossing his arms behind his back. "As far as proving our usefulness, we believe it would be wise to flaunt the technology inside the ship to impress the quarians. Show that we can be valuable assets to them."

"But that's all classified!" Sira jumped in, mild fear spreading across her face.

"Don't you get it yet?" Jack jumped in, walking over and looking Sira right in the eyes. "The Alliance tried to kill us. After every single thing we did for them, they tried to KILL US. Right now, the technology on this ship is the only bargaining chip we have!"

"He's right." Mara nodded, taking our side as she stepped forward. "There's no point in keeping any of our tech secret anymore. The best we can do now is use what we have to integrate with another faction. The quarians could be immensely useful to us as well, considering their proficiency with technology."

"Both sides would ben…benefit each other." Dan remarked, looking down at the floor as he rubbed his chin. "We c-could be of great he…help to their people."

"I thought you, of all people, would understand the danger we are putting Powell and Lydia in." Richard remarked, glaring at Dan. "You obviously don't care about them if you want to bring them to the most hostile environment in the galaxy."

"What the FUCK did you just say!?" Dan suddenly shouted, lunging forward at him before Dimitri caught him mid-jump. "Don't you DARE say I don't care about my sister, you prick!"

"CALM. DOWN." Dimitri shouted, shaking the room with his deep voice. "We already have enough to worry about without you two going at each other's throats!"

Dan glared at Richard for a few more seconds before Dimitri let him go.

"Majority vote says we go to the Migrant Fleet." Dimitri announced with finality looking hard at Sira and Richard. "If you'd rather take your chances out there with no money, contacts, or influence, be my guest."

With that heated discussion out of the way, everyone dispersed to work on their assigned repair tasks. I could only hope that my hunch was right. We wouldn't be able to survive another encounter like the one at Eden Prime.

…

SSV _Explorer_, February 6th, 2:49 PM, 2182

…

"For… fuck's… SAKE!" I yelled through grunts, trying to dislodge a fried data board from its console housing. This particular one had gone up in flames when an electrical discharge had fried the conduit next to it. I had to replace all of these if we expected to get and fine aiming back in the 250mm cannons.

I fell backwards as the bastard finally came loose, sending pieces of charred plastic through the air. I leaned back up looking at the board's poor condition before looking back into the console itself. Just as I feared, the inside was beyond repair. We'd need to replace this one too, along with the other two on the port side of the CIC.

I shook my head in anger, standing up and throwing my oil-soaked rag at the console. This was a waste of time.

I walked into the back of the deck to see how Dan was doing. He was busy trying to get the communications equipment back up to snuff since it had experienced a large brunt of the attack. The comm room itself was rather small, about as big as two short buses put next to each other. It was meant to be used for the transmission of classified data, considering the ship's former posting in a scout flotilla. Now, it was a wreck.

"Halt! Who goes there?" Dan asked, looking over at me from the floor.

"Major Chip Hazard, reporting for duty, sir." I answered with a big, stupid grin on my face. "Man, I still can't believe we remember that stupid movie."

"It's ama…amazing what gets burned into our b-brains as kids, huh?" He replied with an equally large grin. "So, what brings yo…you here Kemosabe?"

"Sheer boredom." I answered matter-of-factly, putting my hands in my pockets. "All the consoles I was supposed to repair are completely shot. There's nothing I can do to fix it without proper parts."

"Yeah, I'm running in…into similar problems myself." He remarked, looking back at the underside of the station he was working on. "This god damn t-thing is completely fried fr…from top to bottom. I thought these Al…Alliance ships were supposed to be tough."

"Well, considering the entirety of Seventh Fleet tried to kill us, I'd say we're lucky the ship is only mostly fucked up." I shot back with a grin, leaning on the wall as I looked down at my friend. "Hell, if it wasn't for Dimi's absurdly expensive titanium armor plating, we might not even be here right now."

"Ah yes, The Bear." He smiled, gritting his teeth as sparks barely avoided his face. "I would h-have paid so much mo…money to see him pull a Crazy Ivan."

"Heh, you are such a browncoat." I remarked, chuckling at his Firefly reference. "No, what he pulled with those emergency thrusters… I'd call it the Siberian Dodge."

"I like it, but I don't th-think it'll catch on." He replied as holographic displayed re-engaged. "I'd suggest calling it… The Russian Wildcat."

"I like how you're treating this as if it's important now." I shot back, nudging his foot as he got back up. "And here I thought I was the clever one."

"Hey, you're the o-one who brought it up." He shrugged, wiping off his greased-up hands on his pants.

"_Attention: Athena and I have found the Fleet._" Powell announced through the ship-wide speaker system. "_ETA is about two hours. I'd recommend everyone gather up what they need now so they don't have to look for it later._"

"Well, are you ready for our next adventure?" I asked, looking at Dan as he readjusted his belt.

"I don't think I have much of a choice." He replied, pulling his coat back on.

…

MSV _Explorer_, February 6th, 4:31 PM, 2182

…

We all stood in the front of the ship as the grayish cloud in the distance slowly got larger. We jumped about 30 kilometers away from the actual fleet, close enough to communicate with them and far enough to look friendly. We hoped. Unfortunately, because this was my idea I was going to lead the way. I knew that the Captains always spoke for their ships here, so Dimitri made me just that.

I really hoped I wouldn't fuck this up.

"_Unidentified ship, this is the Neema. Explain your presence here now or leave. If you refuse to do either, we will not hesitate to fire on your ship." _An almost European voice commanded over the first comm channel.

"This is Captain Sean Michaels of the MSV _Explorer_, me and my crew request to speak with your leadership." I responded as the line went quiet for a minute, leaving us all on the edges of our seats.

"_Captain Michaels, this is Admiral Han'Gerrel._" A new voice declared, sounding much more authoritative. I reflexively straightened when he said he was an Admiral. "_I've been told you wish to speak with me?_"

"Yes Admiral." I confirmed, trying to keep my voice from going shaky. "My crew and I wish to seek asylum with the Migrant Fleet."

"_Really? From who do you seek asylum?_" Gerrel inquired, sounding extremely suspicious. I couldn't blame him. "_We don't make a habit of lending help to everyone who passes by, Captain._"

"I must admit Admiral, it is a very long story and I'll try to shorten it as much as I can." I responded, shaking my head. "We were part of a former Alliance science team known as Task Force Cerebellum. We were betrayed by one of our own to the group known as Cerberus, but managed to escape. When we returned to Alliance space, they tried to have us killed. We suffered varying levels of damage, and decided to seek out your fleet."

Gerrel stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking up again.

"_Why should I even consider giving your crew an audience?_" He questioned, sounding slightly confused on top of his suspicion. "_We already have our own problems._"

"We wish to join your fleet because we have troves of tech to offer your people. We have a hybrid eezo/fusion reactor that produces petawatts worth of electricity, a prototype man-portable weapon system that fires exhaustive plasma, and we even have a jump drive that is capable of reaching mass relay level speeds." I listed off, pacing back and forth as I spoke. "We can offer this to you and more if you can give us a chance."

Gerrel paused once again, likely pondering what I had just said. After what felt like hours, he gave me an answer.

"_You have my attention, Captain._" Gerrel replied much to everyone's relief. "_I will summon the other Admirals to my ship for a Conclave. Dock at Cradle 9, a security team will meet you there and escort you and any other members of your crew to us._"

"Thank you, Admiral. I look forward to meeting you." I agreed as the connection went dead.

"Well, that went pretty well, all things considered." Mara commented with a small smirk on her face. I smiled back at her as everyone except for Dimitri, who was piloting the ship, got ready for our meeting. We were all going to put on face masks so we wouldn't spread germs all over their clean ship.

"Are you two going to be alright here?" Richard asked Lydia and Powell as they appeared on the nearby projector.

"We'll be fine, don't worry about us." Lydia reassured, both of them nodding as they smiled. "We're going to stay low, see what kind of data we can pick up without peering directly into their computer systems."

"Just don't c-cause any trouble." Dan pleaded, as Lydia smiled and disappeared from the projector, along with Powell.

We docked with the _Neema_, the very audible clank of metal-on-metal outside our docking port. After Dimitri put his mask on and sealed it, we started our walk down the long docking arm.

"Alright, in the interest of personal safety I'd recommend we all keep quiet unless personally addressed." Dimitri suggested, looking at every single one of us. "Let Sean do the talking."

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed, cracking my neck in an effort to relieve stress.

We reached the other end, going through another decon cycle before the door slid open revealing a squad of armed marines. They weren't pointing their guns at us, but I could tell from body language alone that a couple of them were nervous.

"Welcome to the _Neema_, Captain Michaels." Their leader, a sergeant, greeted. "Follow me, the Admirals are waiting for you."

I nodded lightly, falling in step behind him as the rest of my friends stayed close. The sergeant's men followed up behind our group, likely to keep an eye on us.

We traveled through the packed hallways for a few minutes while I took in just how old this ship was. It looked as if almost everything here had been replaced at least once, and in an effort to use all available space any loose boxes or equipment was suspended above the floor by cargo nets, much like the U.S. military did on large planes such as AC-130s. And all the people they managed to fit on this ship was incredible. I doubted that there was a single empty space.

Most of my gawking was done to avoid all the tracking pairs of eyeballs following us. Dimitri was getting most of the looks, likely due to how massive he was. He was probably the largest alien most of them had ever seen in person. Even though so many looks would have made the rest of us shrink, I knew he was smiling under that mask.

Richard was the exact opposite. He looked like he was about to go into a full-blown panic with all the people around him. We all knew he was scared to death of crowds of people, hence why he never took advantage of his vacation days to visit Earth. He preferred isolation or people he knew. I was hoping he could hold it together until our meeting with the Admirals was over.

Our trip ended when the sergeant led us into a large, open room with plants growing on the walls. In the center of the room was a podium with space for five people, all of whom I assumed were the Admirals. As we entered, a small crowd had begun to form in the bleachers around the podium, many other quarians gathering to watch the odd, alien visitors onboard their ship.

"This Conclave is brought to order." The woman on the top of the podium announced, looking down at us. "Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah sel'lai." Everyone around us softly repeated, as they returned their attention to us.

"We have gathered here this day to observe Captain Michaels and his crew." The woman continued, as I began to get slightly more nervous. "They have come here seeking asylum and offering technology that could assist our people."

"I'm not convinced." One of the admirals, the one with red and black fabrics on his suit, shrugged off with folded arms. He squinted at me before looking back to the others. "These are humans and an asari we're looking at here. I don't even know why we're wasting resources on a meeting like this!"

"Rael, at least let Captain Michaels present what he has to offer before you try throwing him off the ship." One of the other admirals, this one with red and white fabrics, defended, looking over at him.

"Fine, do what you want Koris, but I won't be held accountable for whatever these outsiders try to pull." He grudgingly agreed, looking none too pleased.

"Captain, we must admit that meetings like this are very… rare for our people." The one at the top of the podium commented, looking hard at Rael for a few seconds. "No one has ever come to our people seeking asylum since we fled the homeworld."

"Well, we appreciate that you have given us this chance." I replied, hands behind my back.

"I am very interested in this tech you mentioned." One of the other Admirals mused, looking hard at all of us. She was donned in yellow and black, making her look like a bee. "Is it true you have an FTL drive capable of matching that of Mass Relays?"

That sent murmurs of quiet voices through the crowd as everyone got even more interested than they were before.

With that and the inquiry, I looked at Jack who nodded and stepped forward.

"It is true." He confirmed as the Admirals shuffled slightly.

"Admirals, I'd like you to meet Dr. Jack Windham." I introduced as we stood side-by-side. "He is the man who created the Gravity Drive."

The crowd grew slightly louder as the same Admiral stepped forward and looked harder at Windham's wrinkly face.

"How does it work?" She simply asked, putting one of her hands on the railing as everyone grew quiet.

"My Gravity Drive does what it does by producing a powerful magnetic field around a ship, distorting the normal space around it and effectively isolating it." Jack began, miming the process with his hands. "When the ship makes a jump, it violently throws all the gravity around it to the front of the ship, shooting it forward at incredible speeds. The magnetic field remains during the jump, protecting the ship from g-forces and time dilation."

"That's incredible!" The woman exclaimed, straightening back up and looking at the rest of the Admirals. "Imagine what benefits such a drive would have for our people!"

"Don't get too excited, Zadie." Rael warned, throwing out his hands dismissively as he looked at her. "How do you know this human is telling the truth? He could be making it up for all you know!"

"Imagine the military applications, though." One of the other Admirals added, who I guessed was Han'Gerrel since he was the only other male on the podium. "A fleet of these ships could easily jump behind an enemy fleet and decimate them from the rear."

"It makes perfect scientific sense, Rael." Admiral Zadie dismissed, looking at him with crossed arms before turning back to Jack. "Though I am curious about something else. Such a device would need immense energy to function. How have you accomplished such a feat?"

"You and Dan should probably take care of this." Jack told me, putting his hand on my shoulder before turning back to our little group.

I nodded, ushering Dan forward as we both took center stage.

"Me and my friend, Dr. Dan Nemo, created the Nemo/Michaels Reactor." I stared off, as Dan held up his hand in greeting. "It's a dual system that combines a conventional Element Zero drive core with a miniaturized fusion reactor."

That got the crowd talking again. They got loud enough that the admiral at the top of the podium had to silence them.

"Fusion?" The one on top of the podium questioned, leaning on the railing and looking down at us. "How does combining a primitive fusion reactor with an eezo drive core produce so much energy?"

"You see, the t-trick is harnessing the immense static created by an eezo… eezo drive core." Dan took over, shuffling slightly as he spoke. "When you ta…take that st-static charge and pump it into a Fusor-type fu…fusion reactor, the resulting electrical field is more than en-enough to heat ions to fusion conditions."

"Then, you simply channel the electrical charge from the fusion reactor into the Eezo core." I ended off, creating a loop in the air with my index finger. "Perfect synergy between both reactors nets about 3.2 petawatts of electricity per hour when running in standard conditions, 5.7 in emergency or combat conditions. In the end, you no longer need to discharge the eezo drive core and twice as less helium-3 is consumed during travel."

All the Admirals simply looked at us before talking amongst themselves. the crowd, on the other hand, went wild with chitter-chatter. I smiled under my mask, knowing that we now had both Conclave majority and Admiral majority. I really couldn't help it, but at least they couldn't see it.

"This is… a lot to take in, Captain." The lead admiral, whose name I discovered was Raan, explained, looking at us. "Why do you and your crew wish to share this with our people?"

I thought about it for a second before looking back at all of them.

"We want to share this with your people because not only do you deserve it, but because we can trust you." I started, looking at each and every one of them as I spoke. "Three days ago all of us were full-blown Alliance patriots, developing whatever we thought would make them stronger. We developed amazing things for them, helped with so many breakthroughs, yet what do they do when THEY fail to protect US? They try to have us killed, throwing us to the dogs and burning everything we worked so hard to achieve."

"We want your people to accept us because we want to work towards the greater good. We want to help families grow and make lives better, not further the destructive agenda of a bunch of backstabbing Alliance admirals." I began to finish off, making sure to keep my posture as natural as possible without looking nervous. "The quarian people are the only ones who can offer us this opportunity."

With that, about two thirds of the crowd erupted into applause as the Admirals looked at each other.

"Are the Admirals prepared to render a decision?" Raan asked, as each one of them slowly opened their omni-tools and typed out their answers. That sent murmurs of quiet voices through the crowd as everyone eagerly waited to see what the Admirals would do with us.

"Captain Michaels, in light of your recent experiences and what you wish to offer the quarian people, we will grant you and your crew asylum here in our Fleet." Rann announced, as all of us quietly and collectively let out a deep breath we had all been holding. "You shall be afforded the same amount of authority a captain has here in our Fleet, and as such, can be approached with gifts by quarians returning home from Pilgrimage."

"Thank you, Admirals." I nodded, bowing to them with barely contained happiness. "I really hope we can all help each other out."

"Yes… I like to start by seeing this reactor system and FTL drive in person." Zadie suggested, walking towards me as the crowd around us began to disperse. "Perhaps even a test drive."

"I'm sure we can set something up, Admiral." I eased, looking over as the rest of the other Admirals walked over to me.

This was going to be interesting, this new partnership.

…

MSV _Explorer_, February 6th, 5:19 PM, 2182

…

"Now here's what you've been itching to see." I announced, opening the door to engineering and ushering them inside.

All the Admirals had accepted my offer to visit the _Explorer_, much to my immense nervousness. We had repaired all of the vital systems and cleaned up what we could, but from seeing how new the _Explorer _was I think they were impressed regardless. This, coming from someone describing a ship with a series of large holes in its starboard section.

Everyone else had gone back to their preferred places, leaving me with the job as tour guide.

They all slowly walked around, looking at what we've had installed in the large room with intense interest. Even the marine escort they had brought with them couldn't help but look up at the fusion reactor as swirls of plasma looped around the chamber.

"This is simply amazing." Admiral Zadie commented, looking up at that very same reactor. "Is that plasma?"

"Yes, it is a unique form of synthetic plasma produced from the inclusion of a mass effect field." I explained, pointing to the large storage canisters placed along both sides of the reactor. "I discovered its properties were perfectly suited for me and Dr. Ford's Ionized Plasma Projector, otherwise known as the Plasma Gun."

"Plasma gun… how does that work?" Rael of all people asked, now holding the edge of his face mask with his hand.

"We store the plasma in a specially-designed cell that's supposed to go into the back of the gun." I started, focusing on him. "Using an injector system and a specially-shaped magnetic field, we can fire bolts of plasma around 2800 to 3300 frames per second or… around 2,000 miles per hour, I believe."

"What kind of effect does this weapon have on a target?" He asked, still very interested.

"Well, it bypasses all forms of kinetic shielding, for one." I continued, slipping my hands into my pockets slightly. "On unarmored targets, it causes the instant boiling of body water that usually results in catastrophic and irreparable physical damage. To armored targets, it superheats armor plating and causes intense second-degree burns to flesh near the impact area."

"What about synthetics? Automated targets?" He inquired further, looking up at the plasma swirling around the reactor chamber.

"Well, we never managed to test it on those kinds of targets, though I predict that the impacts would melt their chassis and thermal damage would destroy internal components." I answered as well as I could as he simply stared up at the reactor.

"I'll be perfectly honest with you, _Captain_." Rael remarked, looking harder at me as he stepped closer to me as if so the others couldn't hear him. "I do not trust you, and I don't want you or your people here. But…If you can provide me and Han'Gerrel with tech like this, tech that can help our people retake our homeworld… you will have my full support."

I stared off at the reactor for a few moments, pondering his proposal before I stared back at his face.

"I think we can work out something." I nodded in agreement, holding out my hand to offer a handshake. He stared at it for a second before accepting it.

"Maybe you and I can get along after all." Rael mused, nodding as we both smiled.

…

**A/N: Well, something good finally happened for our friends. It may still be slightly rocky, but a "beautiful relationship" is looking to be nearing on the horizon. What'll happen when you combine the minds of Cerebellum with the tech skills of the quarians? Truly, only time can tell.**

**I cranked this chapter our really fast, mostly because I really like writing things relating to the quarians. They are my favorite species in the Mass Effect universe, hence why I tried to make sure everything was matched correctly during the Conclave. Don't expect chapters to come out this quickly on a regular basis, I just happened to have a lot of free time.**

**nach77, who was kind enough to let me use his Alamo-class light frigate as a base the MSV **_**Explorer, **_**was even nice enough to make a custom skin for me. The ship in all its glory can be viewed here: stash/0lf1kikhmjv**

**(Place a period between the a and s in stash.)**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	11. Pilgrims

…

"War. War never changes." (Fallout Series)

…

MSV _Explorer_, February 10th, 11:39 AM, 2182

…

"_In other news, the Migrant Fleet has turned away Alliance investigators who requested assistance in their search for the ship involved the space battle above Eden Prime several days ago. The rouge ship had attacked the Seventh Fleet during a patrol in the sector, damaging several fighters before escaping into FTL._" The newscaster reported as I sat back in my chair, watching with pent-up anger. "_Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema was quoted, saying "We are not obligated and don't have the resources to help the Alliance in their little varren chase." Admiral Catharine Parangosky of the Alliance Navy was unavailable for comment regarding the incident._"

"Well, I guess that's that then." I remarked, looking over at Dan and Richard who had decided to watch the broadcast with me.

"Let's just hope they gave us the proper instructions for changing our IFF." Richard replied, walking off with the new pout he had developed since coming here.

We watched him, waiting for the door to close before speaking.

"Asshole." Dan exclaimed bitterly, crossing his arms in minor anger.

"Just ignore him, he's worried about Powell and Lydia, is all." I explained, switching the monitor on the wall over to the ship's active schematics. "Speaking of which… Powell, secure the room."

The door locked as built-in soundproofing kicked in. We were safe from any possible outside signals too, as our omni-tool signals cut off.

For the last four days, we've all been hard at work trying to repair the major damage to the ship, mostly the hull breaches on the starboard side of the ship. They even covered up the old Alliance emblems with Flotilla ones. While that was going to take a little longer, all the other minor damages to the ship had already been repaired. The quarians were fast when it came to repairing hull damage, but the Admirals had thoroughly explained that they expected something soon to make up for the resources being used.

Sira and I were planning on showing off the Mark III Exo to them at the end of the week. Adapting the design to quarian physiology when building the new one wasn't too difficult, though we toned down some settings. What we had eventually planned to do was upgrade it into its own armor system with plating and shields, but that was on hold for now. We would settle for giving the quarians something that could help them move heavy objects or better handle combatants. Plus, there was the added benefit of it being relatively cheap to build. What I really wanted to see what kinds of improvements they could make themselves.

So far, all we were missing was proper labs and logistical support food and medical-wise. The latter we could probably set up with military surplus, but the former… let's just say we'd have to get used to working on a budget again.

"Powell, how are the external repairs coming along?" I asked as Dan and I stood up to get a better look at the screen.

"About 76% of the starboard repairs are finished, though we won't be replacing the emergency thrusters anytime soon." Powell chimed, appearing on the nearby projector as the screen. "Same goes for the GUARDAN system, though Dr. Vsevolod is trying to find a workaround to fixing them."

"Lydia, how about internal?" I inquired, rubbing the steadily forming goatee on my chin.

"Most primary systems have been restored, though most secondary systems remain damaged." She listed off as she appeared next to Powell. "Most of the disabled systems relate to lighting and power distribution."

"Doesn't sound like too much of a problem." I mused, looking at Dan who nodded in approval. "Alright, now for the next order of business. Have you guys found anything interesting on the net?"

"Not much. The only interesting thing outside of the Fleet is a noticeable shifts in pirate activity near the Terminus/Attican border." Powell commented, shrugging slightly. "It's nowhere near the Fleet, so I don't think it really matters."

"What about inside the Fleet?" I questioned further, trying to make sure I didn't miss anything.

"You mean other than all the spare resources being pulled from around the fleet to further our repairs?" Lydia remarked with a smile and crossed arms. "I think the Admirals are setting up and obstacle course one of their cargo freighters, the _Asuis_ I believe. More than likely it's for you and Sira."

"They're that eager, huh?" I remarked with raise eyebrows, shaking my head as I looked over at Dan. "So… what do you think about my agreement to supply them with military tech?"

"I think its sound, though i-if they move too fast with it they may ina…inadvertently alert the Alliance to our pr-presence in the Fleet." Dan theorized, looking at the monitor on the wall as small status updates scrolled across it. "If the Alliance or Cerberus wants us that badly… then I'm scared to imagine what they may do to get at us here."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." I finished off, giving him a quick pat on his arm as I disabled the room lockdown. I walked out of the room to see a plethora of quarian volunteers, about eight or nine of them, repairing the minor damage around the ship. It had been extremely easy to find volunteers for the repair, considering this was a top-of-the-line Alliance light cruiser. There had actually been so many volunteers that they had to hold a little drawing to thin out the numbers.

"Captain!" The lead of the volunteer project, Hendor'Evvri vas Bordans, greeted enthusiastically while holding his hand up to better gain my attention. "We've repaired the main power conduits on all three decks and the secondary ones are nearly finished."

"That's great, Hendor." I replied with a smile, nodding at him. "Tell the volunteers that once those are fixed they can head back to their ships."

"Yes'sir, Captain." He saluted, walking back off to assist in the repairs.

I was still pondering the fact that I could be approached by quarians returning from Pilgrimage with gifts. I still found the need for such a dangerous rite of passage to be extremely benign, but I could understand why they considered it so important. They didn't want anyone dragging their knuckles around here, they didn't have the time or resources for it. In a way, it made me better appreciate all the Admirals had done to help fix our ship.

I walked down to the vacant bridge, putting on some Johnny Cash's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" which I had deliberately edited to give it a reverb. The effect helped make me feel like I was in a much larger space, which I had read helped relax those often confined to space vessels. Nature sounds such as rain or ocean were also great for helping relieve stress, though I preferred to stick with Bob Ross videos when it came to stress.

Taking a seat and watching the ships around me, I admired the sheer determination and will it took to keep this ancient fleet going. I stared up at it all for about seven minutes before I got a ping from Powell.

"Yeah Powell?" I asked, sitting up straight and looking over at the projector.

"Um… there's a quarian here who claims he knows you, just got back from his Pilgrimage." He informed me, sending my eyebrows up into the air. "Should I send him away?"

"Hold on… give me a visual." I halted, as Powell threw up a camera shot of the quarian who was standing in the hallway to the bridge. I almost couldn't believe it.

I opened the doors to the bridge and walked forward, causing the green and black suited quarian to flip around and face me.

"Lenlo!" I said out loud, holding my arms out in the air. "Man, how's it going?"

"Its b-ben going very well. I'm certainly better off than I was back on Earth." He replied, giving me a light handshake. "With that money you gave me, I was able to get out of that city and find come really nice tech to bring back for my Pilgrimage."

"That sounds really good, certainly sounds a lot less… hazardous than what me and my crew have been through lately." I remarked, looking off to the side as I trailed off slightly. "Anyways, did you need something, or did you just come by to say hi?"

"I… I came here because I would like to join your crew, Captain." He said, as his posture got much stiffer and nervous. "I don't really know any of the other ship captains, and even though I've been-"

"Don't say another word." I stopped, smiling as I put both hands on his shoulders. "Welcome to the crew, Lenlo."

"B-but don't you want to see what I brought back first?" He replied sheepishly, instantly confused.

"Sure, you can show it to me after you bring your things over, Lenlo'Ferna vas Explorer." I shot back with a cheeky expression plastered on my face.

"O-ok, Captain!" He quickly nodded as he ran back into the airlock to gather his stuff. I couldn't be happier.

The galaxy really was a small place after all.

…

MFV _Celchu_, February 13th, 4:51 PM, 2182

…

Sira and I walked onto the repurposed cargo freighter, the two of us pulling a cargo truck with two crates on it. Two Migrant Fleet marines stood at attention as we walked past, not even moving their heads as we walked into the main hallway.

"So, you ready for this?" I asked, looking over at Sira who looked clearly conflicted.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." She reassured, her expression softening a bit. "I just hope these Admirals don't do anything shortsighted with our designs."

"I hope so too." I agreed a little bit as we ran into two more marines guarding the door to the main hold.

"Hold." One of the marines commanded, holding out his hand. "Admiral, they're here."

"_Good, send them in._" A faint voice could be heard, as both marines stepped out of the way. The door opened, revealing a large, open space filled with a multitude of different obstacles. It was a full-fledged course, like Powell had predicted.

"Captain, over here." Admiral Mirna'Zadie ushered over, who was standing with Han'Gerrel and Rael'Zorah. We left the crates there and walked up the stairs to their platform, which overlooked the entire course from the center.

"Captain Michaels, I've been looking forward to this presentation." Gerrel mused as he gave me a firm handshake.

"So have I." Rael remarked, turning around to face me. "If these specifications you have given me are to be believed, then this will make a great new addition to our fleet."

"Well, we certainly aim to please." I smiled, crossing my hands behind my back. "Who will be running the course with me today?"

"That'd be me, sir." A new voice announced from below us. I turned around to see a Migrant Fleet marine walking up the stairs. He had a red, black and white accented suit along with a black visor. "Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines."

"Nice to meet you, Reegar." I greeted with a firm handshake as I noticed the large knife strapped to his chest. "Ready to help test our new system?"

"Absolutely, sir." He agreed, as the three of us walked back down the stairs.

We began the relatively short process of unpacking the exoskeleton, which only really needed to be unfolded and place upright. First, Reegar's went on, matching his physique to the letter with just a few minor adjustments. Mine went on second, fitting perfectly. The newer straps we had applied before the attack were much more comfortable to non-armor wearers this time around, and left me with an even better range of movement.

This would be fun.

"This feels pretty good." Reegar commented, doing a quick series of punches and jabs to the empty air in front of him. "I've got a little proposition for you if you're interested, doc."

"I'm all ears, Reegar." I replied, looking over at him as I rolled my shoulders with several satisfying pops.

"How bout' a race?" He suggested, piquing my competitive side. "First one to beat the challenges and reach the end wins."

"Sounds interesting. How about we throw in some stakes?" I challenged, jogging in place to get the leg actuators warmed up. "If I win, you give me that knife. If you win, I let you keep that exo."

He pondered my terms for a few seconds, looking between the knife and his exo in deliberation.

"Deal." He agreed as Sira walked back up to the observation platform. I slipped a basic combat helmet on, not wanting to damage my cranium.

"Alright, there are three portions to this test." Rael began, looking down at the two of us with his hands crossed behind his back. "There is the obstacle course, CQC course, and speed course. These three must be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible to better test the suit capabilities. Good luck."

With that, Gerrel sounded an artificial bell. The two of us bolted forward determined to beat each other.

The first obstacle was a short wall, which could easily be jumped over with the in-built piston system. Reegar knew this too from going over the design specifications, flying over the wall as well. The second was the tall wall, which was just tall enough that we couldn't completely jump over it. I climbed over the top after jumping most of the height, dropping straight back down to the ground without any fear of breaking my legs.

I quickly did the balance beams, my center of gravity pretty well suited for them. The Burma Bridge was pretty easy as well, I didn't have to worry about the rope snapping from weight due to the lightweight materials. The fifth and last part was an extended rope swing, which led to a quick set of monkey bars. It was easy enough. I looked over to my right to see Reegar was very close on my tail, just now finishing the first part of the course.

I picked up speed, running into a mock series of ship corridors. I had to "knock out" each target in my section of the course before moving on. It was relatively easy, a single punch or kick while wearing the exo made the tasks much easier that it would have been for any standard human, quarian, or possibly even turians. I could hear Reegar on the other side, grunting as he worked as quickly as he could. I knocked out each of the ten targets in about 48 seconds, running through the door at the end of the course.

Reegar popped out just a mere second later as we both bolted down the speed course. It ran down the whole length of the massive cargo hold, and had "walls" and other obstacles to avoid as we ran. I smashed through the smaller obstacles with my sheer mass, while avoiding the walls and swinging weights in my path.

There was nothing left but a single stretch left in front of us now, and both of us strained ourselves to move as fast as the suits. We were neck in neck as we crossed the end of the course, both of us panting as we leaned on our knees. I had no idea who won.

"It looks like Captain Michaels finished the course a hair before Kal'Reegar did." Gerrel announced as he, Sira, and the rest of the Admirals walked back down to see us. "Congratulations, Captain."

"That was a good race, Michaels." He panted out, walking over and handing me the knife. "I'll take off the suit in a few minutes."

"That won't be necessary, Reegar." I said, taking the knife from his hands as I looked over at the Admirals. "I'll take the knife, but you can keep the suit. You've proven you know how to use it."

"Thank you, sir!" He nodded, his eyes widening in surprise.

I smiled at his mild excitement as the Admirals and Sira finally made it over, their body language suggesting that they were very much impressed with the exos.

"That performance surpassed all of my expectations!" Mirna'Zadie remarked, looking remarkably giddy as she struggled to stay still. "We should start manufacturing these exoskeletons as soon as possible, they can give us a significant edge in countless civilian and military fields."

"I agree, the parts are cheap enough that we can make most of them ourselves." Han'Gerrel supported, looking at Reegar up and down before looking back at me and Sira. "And you two don't mind us making our own modifications?"

"Not at all, as long as you tell us about the upgrades so we may double check your work." Sira answered, looking back at me with a neutral expression on her face. "Right?"

"Yep. We just want to be in the know." I agreed, folding my hands behind my sweat soaked back.

"That won't be a problem." Rael reassured, looking over at Reegar. "Thank you for presenting this to us, Captain."

"Admiral." I nodded in acknowledgement, as Sira and I walked out of the cargo hold and back to our shuttle.

"So, I think that went very well." I smiled, hoping to get Sira to lighten up. "Starting to feel better about this?"

"I suppose, but I'll need more convincing than that before I just roll over for them like a varren." She remarked, sounding more annoyed than angry as she rubbed her temples. "I need a drink."

"I'll see what I can pull together." I said with some sympathy as our shuttle departed from the MFV Celchu.

…

MFV _Alarei_, April 5th, 11:21 AM, 2183

…

The year had been relatively calm compared to when we used to work on Aldrin Station. Since our ship had been repaired, we've helped solve a whole slew of problems around the Fleet. The most shining example so far would have to be when the ship known as the _Artemis_, a really old turian cruiser, had a drive core malfunction, shutting down all primary power on the ship. We drove up to it, supplied it with surplus power from our ship, and helped repair the old drive core in under an hour. The crew of that ship was still thanking us for our help six months later.

In that time, the exos me and Sira had developed had become fairly common on most ships here. The quarians had made a multitude of improvement in that time, including but not limited to the addition of kinetic barriers for military applications and large, built-in tools for civilian repair applications.

Our "Reach System" had been slowly replicated across several ships in the fleet, starting with their Liveships and tapering off into about a dozen of their most strategic cruisers. I did manage to successfully push for a few volunteer frigates to receive the upgrades as part of my new "Haven Plan." The plan was simple, and had the support of most of the Conclave.

We get a small group of exploration ships outfitted with Gravity Drive technology, send them to systems out of the reach of Mass Relays, and either find a new planet for the quarians to colonize or moons and asteroids containing valuable minerals that could be harvested. Any uncontested resources could help further bolster the Fleet's vitality and help in other matters.

Zaal'Koris was a big fan of the Haven Plan, mostly because he despised the idea of going back to war with the Geth. Raan and Zadie were supportive as well, though Gerrel and Rael were a bit… reluctant towards the idea. They believed that all these resources would be better suited for hardening their attack ships. Still, we had two exploration frigates out on expeditions right now and I was getting some good results back from their captains.

Locally, things had been calm, despite all the visits from the Admirals and science personnel.

Up to this point, we've only accepted three new crewmembers. The first was the young quarian who I had met in Baltimore City back on Earth, Lenlo'Ferna. As it turned out, he's extremely talented when it comes to engine systems and other maintenance tasks, and thoroughly earned his place on my ship when he fixed several of our maneuvering thrusters. He resided down in the hangar, inside one of the large storage containers that had been emptied of its contents. This was despite my offer to live in the crew quarters. I think he preferred to be alone.

The second was a young woman, Kirva'Noviss. She was a specialist, skilled in combat and weapon maintenance. She returned from her Pilgrimage with a large abundance of Element Zero she had salvaged from a derelict Asari mining vessel in the Attican Traverse. That alone would have given her a place on my ship, but she also managed this while fending off a small gang of pirates, eventually neutralizing them and using their ship to bring the eezo back to the Fleet. She was a friendly, if rather cold and frightening at times. She stayed in the armory, naturally.

The third and newest was an odd one. His name was Biss'Relven. He was strange because of his fascination with dark matter. He talked about it constantly, and had plenty of papers clipped to the wall next to his bunk relating to it. He completed his Pilgrimage by bringing back an old quarian computer he had found during his travels. He never did tell anyone how he came across it, but it did contain a personal diary recording a young man's experiences during the beginning and end of the Geth War. Such things were given much cultural value here in the fleet, and could have given him passage on any ship. Yet, he chose to join mine.

As far as I cared, he needed to do more than recite how quantum physics related to the creation of dark matter. As interesting as his theories were, they didn't help my ship run smoothly. He was starting to lag as badly as Richard when it came to contributions.

Richard. Unlike everyone else on the ship, he had actually begun contributing less and less as the months went by. This was mostly due to his views on A.I.

He saw all A.I. in the world, regardless of what they are or what they did in the past, as living beings in their own right, equal to all the other sentient "organic" races in the galaxy. All he saw around him were enemies to their existence, and he was terrified that they would find Powell and Lydia and have them destroyed. All he ever wanted to do was work on the creation of A.I., but that was stolen from him after the attack. They're all he has left now.

To say the least, he's been reluctant to contribute anything at all to our projects, due to the inevitable war that would likely take place in the near future to retake Rannoch. I honestly couldn't blame him, but we didn't really have the comfort and flexibility we used to have here. He needed to get with the program soon, because I think it's taking a toll on his health.

"Sean?" Mara said out loud, snapping her fingers to bring me back to the world around me. "You all there? I need the frequency for the plasma projectors."

"Right, sorry." I apologized quickly, looking up said frequencies on my omni-tool. "Both are around 50.0 Hz."

"Thanks." She replied, looking back to the gun on the table in front of us.

Progression had recently been ramped up by Rael on the Plasma Gun, giving me more to work with as of late. I was here with Mara and Dimitri on Rael's research ship, the _Alarei_. It was stocked up well enough with facilities, and even featured its own firing range.

We had a whole team of Rael's best techs here, trying to help us consolidate and better miniaturize the weapon. We were close to being rid of our old backpack system, though we've still had trouble fixing the "start-up burst" problem. One of the techs had even suggested using the plasma for a new type of grenade. There were lots of good ideas floating around, and I was finally back in my happy place.

That happy place only lasted a few more minutes before I got another call on my omni-tool. I looked over, seeing that Dimitri and Mara were being contacted too.

"Yes Lenlo?" I asked, turning away from the cell I was working on.

"_You guys might want to check the Alliance News Network._" He suggested in his usual, worried tone. "_There's something big going on._"

"Thanks for the heads up." I replied before shutting off the call, using my omni-tool to turn on the nearest viewing screen and project the ANN onto it.

Everyone who had been working in the room paused to watch the live report as images of burned fields and flattened settlements flashed across the screen.

"_We have confirmed reports of a massive attack on Eden Prime._" The reported said, looking worried. "_Eyewitness statements are varied, though most believe the attackers were the race of machines known as Geth. As of right now, the motive for the attack is unknown, though casualties continue to climb. We will be reporting on the situation as it develops._"

Small pockets of conversation began to form in the room as the three of us looked at one another with the same dumbfounded look.

The Geth were apparently back, and they were attacking Alliance colonies.

…

**A/N: Things are moving right along in the story department. Everyone's more or less settled in, we're getting some new crewmembers, and the Geth are back. How will this affect the goings on in the Fleet? How are Sean and his compadres going to respond? Wait and see.**

**I have to admit, I was reluctant to do another time skip, though it seemed necessary to further the story at a reasonable rate. I liked what I did, and for anyone who might be worried, I will be fleshing out our new crewmembers very soon.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	12. Eros

…

"I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth." (Stephen Hawking)

…

MFV _Neema_, April 6th, 2:13 PM, 2183

…

I had just left the Conclave held by the Admiralty Board, fighting the urge to scratch the part of my face where my breathing mask sat. I did it more out of habit than anything else now, I had since gotten used to ignoring sensations that occurred in places I couldn't reach. Or maybe I was doing it purely out of nerves, even I wasn't quite sure.

The announcement yesterday of an attack on Eden Prime by the Geth had thrown a wrench into the whole Fleet's gears. That was the "official" reason behind the Conclave, to calm people down, though I had a theory as to what the true purpose was. I think the Admirals were trying to gauge popular opinion, seeing whether or not their people wanted to go to war.

The thought alone scared the hell out of me. I really hoped I was wrong.

I had to go to represent my ship as a member of the Conclave. Even if we were mostly under the control of the Admirals, I still had all the rights afforded to any other ship captain here in the Fleet. It was a nice privilege, though I often times disliked all the authority given to me. I had no choice regardless, my colleagues selected me for this and it wasn't going to back down.

Even after spending a little over a year here in the Fleet, the sight of me and my "crew" was often polarizing to many of the quarians. It was relatively easy to tell if someone didn't like us, they would often call us "nefnast" or "vreemd", meaning "outsider" or "alien". Luckily, not many people saw us in that light. Some of them were even nice enough to address me in quarian fashion.

Captain Sean'Michaels vas Explorer. I actually liked it, and it was a badge of respect.

I fiddled with my father's old class ring as I walked, thinking back to Earth. It had been so long since I had set foot on a planet, the mere thought of it made me readily apparent that I was suffering from cabin fever. I couldn't understand how the quarians could put up with this, because it was starting to drive me a little crazy.

Regardless of how I felt, I was thankful there was no mention of any war yet. Still, I knew it would only be a matter of time before the subject popped back up again. Even if It didn't, they would likely begin stockpiling the supplies needed for such a war regardless.

I walked into the decon chamber, yanking off my mask and taking in a breath of fresher air. Once the cycle had finished running its course, I was immediately met at the doors by Mara who had a look of confusion and horror on her face.

'What the hell is going on?" I asked, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Richard is gone!" Mara quickly said, almost yelling. "He left and it looks like he took Powell with him!"

"What!?" I exclaimed, looking over at Lydia's projection in the cockpit. "Lydia, where did he go?"

"I don't know, he's erased his signature in the system!" She explained, looking off into the unseen distance as she tried to focus. "He's been gone for at least an hour, I have no idea how I missed him.

"He couldn't have gotten that far, I was only in that Conclave for thirty minutes!" I remarked, looking through the security monitors to see he was in fact not in any of the recordings. "Lydia, how did you not spot this?"

"I don't know!" She yelled, causing the lights to briefly get brighter. "Wait a second… what's this?"

"What is it?" I asked, trying to calm myself down.

"I've found a well-hidden message in the ship's systems." She explained as the main view screen came up nearby, showing Richard and Powell in the cockpit.

"_Hello guys._" The recording started, with Richard looking directly into the camera. "_By the time you guys see this message, me and Powell will be gone from the Fleet with nothing to trace us by."_

"_If any of you are worried, don't be._" Powell remarked, looking at the camera as well. "_I am leaving with Dr. Karpyshyn by my own choice, and will not be returning. We have some places to visit, and we can't have you following us._"

"_I really am sorry about this, but what we're setting out to do must be done._" Richard explained, a look of worry crossing his face. "_Keep helping the quarians, but please do your best to steer them away from war with the Geth. I wish you all luck in the future, my friends, and I hope we will see each other again someday._"

"The message ends there, no signature or anything." Lydia informed as the two of us stood there in bewilderment. "I have no idea where they went."

Richard just left with one of two A.I.s in the galaxy, leaving no trace behind him. If Lydia had no idea where they went, there was little chance we'd have much better luck. I paced back and forth for a minute as everyone stayed silent, before I caved in.

"Great, just fucking great!" I yelled in sudden and violent frustration, beginning to shake with rage. "How am I supposed to explain this when the Admirals discover a member of my crew is missing? Oh, he just decided he didn't want to _be here_ anymore, _sorry _Admirals."

Before either one of us could do anything else, one of the doors on the other end of the CIC opened. Kirva walked out, holding a broken sniper rifle under her arm as she stared at a datapad. Lydia had already killed her hologram as she walked over.

"I thought I heard yelling out here. What's wrong?" Kirva remarked in her deadpan, looking at me and Mara with what I could only imagine was a confused expression. Unlike most other quarians here in the fleet, she had a custom piece of armor covering her faceplate, leaving two ovals for her to see with. While I found it unnerving, that wasn't even the worst part.

No, what truly unnerved me was the necklace she wore. It was adorned with what I swore were teeth from several other alien species, likely batarian, turian, and human. I hadn't seen anything like that since playing the Fallout series.

I refocused myself, looking at Mara who nodded to me.

"Richard, our old friend, has left the ship. He packed up his things and is now off to parts unknown." I answered truthfully, letting my anger seep through. "He didn't even tell any of us that he was leaving, he just left."

"Is that what he was doing earlier?" Kirva inquired, shuffling slightly where she stood. "I saw him run off with a box while I was eating lunch."

"It appears so." Mara confirmed, crossing her arms as she shook her head.

"I'll just let you deal with it in private, Captain." Kirva said, nodding slightly as she readjusted the rifle tucked underneath her arm. "I've got work of my own to do."

"Right. Carry on, Kirva." I replied as she walked back down to the armory.

Mara and I looked at one another with the same looks. This could potentially cause problems.

…

MFV _Explorer_, April 14th, 1:02 PM, 2183

…

Despite the news of the Geth incursions into the Attican Traverse, things had stayed relatively calm around the Fleet. The ship was still mildly stricken that there had been no contact from Richard over the last week, and it was beginning to worry me. He and Powell had to go off alone, and if something happened to them, they weren't getting any help, I guess there's not much I can really do by this point. Still, we had lost a member of our crew, and that was a sad fact.

I seriously hoped he hadn't gone Section 8. Whatever he was doing out there, he was smart enough to be potentially dangerous. Especially with Powell helping him.

I redirected my attention to the matter at hand. The findings from the scouting vessels sent off with the new drive systems.

The MFV _Kavna _had reported great findings from the system they had scouted. They have dubbed it the Klenot System, which I believed was quarian for "gem." It had two gas giants, both with large amounts of moons and asteroid belts. Basically, the system had exactly what we needed. Element Zero, Titanium, and Helium-3. All three of these resources were vital to the Migrant Fleet, whether it be for personal use or trading with other species.

Captain Teera'Soran was so pleased with how well our Reach System ran that she wanted us to come visit the system ourselves. She thought it was "only fair" that I at least get to name one of the planets. I was piqued, and immediately jumped at the offer.

To be perfectly honest, the mineral scans aren't what got me interested in the system. What got my personal attention was the large garden world in the system. According to initial scans, it was about three times the size of Earth, had large oceans, and similar plant life. It didn't look to be dextro like the quarians needed, but that thought had completely slipped through the cracks. I wanted to take my crew for a miniature vacation, land on the planet and get out for a bit. Staying confined to ships for a little over a year was a little maddening, and I needed to vent like crazy.

It did take a bit of negotiation to convince the Admirals to let me mobilize the volunteer ships, but popular opinion finally broke their shells. Koris, Raan, and Gerrel all supported my decision, though Rael and Zadie didn't seem too thrilled. As a tradeoff, I was going to leave the Plasma Gun and my experimental new shielding design with him so he and his techs could work on it. No harm, they were all very capable, and they were closer than ever to getting the cells working.

I stood at the front of the bridge as Dimitri punched in the coordinates for the system. I looked at the rear view monitor, seeing ten other ships closely knit into formation.

"All captains are giving us the green light, Captain." Lenlo announced from the communications console, looking up at me. "We are ready for the jump."

"Good, begin the countdown." I ordered, as a thirty second timer appeared on the main viewing screen.

The timer slowly ticked down before all of us simultaneously jumped at once, quickly distorting the space around us before snapping us into an entirely new locale. I looked back to the monitor, seeing every ship had managed the jump without mishap.

We were now in the newly-christened Klenot System.

The garden world she had scouted was right in front of us, filling most of the cockpit's viewports. Seeing the blue-green orb in front of me… it triggered something I hadn't felt in a long time.

I sat down and sobbed very slightly as a tear of joy came out of my eye. It wasn't a quiet as I hoped it was, as Dimitri flipped around to look at me.

"Are you alright, my friend?" He asked, always worried about everyone on the ship.

"This… is all I ever wanted." I forced out with a smile. "My dream of exploring the galaxy finally came true. Everything we've worked towards, all the hardships we've endured… and it finally happened."

Dimitri let a large smile cross his face as Jack laughed from the radar console.

"Well, let me know when you've calmed down, Sean." Jack mused, looking over at me with a grin equal to Dimitri's. "Captain Teera'Soran wishes to speak with you."

I nodded, wiping away the tears as I stood back up and recomposed myself.

"I'm here, Captain." I greeted over the channel, still smiling like a dummy.

"_It's good to see the Admirals finally let you off their leash, Captain Michaels_." Teera'Soran remarked, sounding pleased. "_I can't express how amazing this new FTL system is, it's allowed me and my crew to cover more ground in a week than we have in three years_."

"We always aim to please here on the _Explorer_." I replied back, leaning on the back of Lenlo's chair.

"_You certainly did that, no denying that._" She finished off with a short pause. "_So…, what are you going to call the garden world?_"

I stared at the green/blue ball before me, which floated in a bluish nebula that gave the world a brilliant sheen along the edge of the atmosphere. I had been pondering several names over the last few days, but one kept sticking in my mind like a fly to sticky paper.

"I'll call her Reach." I finally decided, folding my hands behind my back in satisfaction.

I was such a nerd.

…

Reach, April 28th, 11:51 AM, 2183

…

I sat out on the hangar bay doors, staring out into the vast mountain range before me. They looked like something you'd see in an old Bob Ross painting. Sweeping, tipped mountains with rows upon rows of trees lining the very bottom. The air had a mild chill to it, but it was nothing a coat couldn't fix.

It was the single most relaxing thing I had experienced in years.

We had touched down just a few hours ago, having spent the last week helping the volunteer flotilla map out the system. It was a slow and tedious process, but we got it done with a little silent help from Lydia. She was still stricken with mild anger and guilt regarding Richard and Powell disappearing under her watch, but Dan insisted that his sister was slowly getting over it.

My mind drifted off to everything that had led up to this point. The SDD, The Citadel, Aldrin, the Migrant Fleet, and now this… it was almost as if the galaxy was just pushing us from place to place, unsure as to what it wanted to do with us.

It reminded me of my upbringing as a Roman Catholic, when we used to go to Saint Agnes Church every Sunday and I had to take Sunday School classes shortly afterwards. I never was a good Catholic, I constantly questioned everything around me to the point where it angered even my parents. I eventually shut my mouth and kept my thoughts to myself for the sake of my family, but that didn't change my skepticism.

After leaving home and going to college with Dan, I basked in all the weight that had been lifted from my shoulders. No more mass, no more "no meat during lent", and I got to sleep in on Sundays. The freedom I had outside of religion was immediately apparent, and I loved it.

Still, no matter what I did, I always had that constant thought in the back of my head. No matter how hard I tried to express it, it would always be there.

Was there really a God or not?

It was a question we could never truly answer, though conventional logic would always suggest that there was no God. If the Bible were to be believed, aliens such as the Quarians would have never existed. God apparently created us all in "his image", so which of us was more in his image out of all the races in the galaxy?

I shook the thought from my head, realizing I was dwelling too much on it. I looked back to the mountain range a few minutes longer in silence before heavy footfalls could be heard approaching.

"It is quite the sight, is it not?" Dimitri mused, taking a seat next to me on the cargo bay door. "The closest I've ever seen to this are mountain ranges on Elysium. They had beautiful sunrises, the kind that cast brilliant beams of light through the misty clouds."

"Forget the mountains, I'm just happy to be off of the damn ship." I remarked with a smile, looking back at him. "Do you realize how long it's been since we've set foot on another planet?"

Our string of sentences was briefly cut off when I heard a distant mass accelerator go off, likely signaling a kill for our now huntress Kirva. She insisted on going out and "testing the wildlife" for strengths and weaknesses.

Yeah, I was about 90% sure she was completely insane.

"So, what's everyone else doing right now?" I asked, redirecting my focus to Dimitri.

"Um… well, Mara is discussing something with Biss, Jack and Dan are having another chess match, Sira and Lenlo are out there running biosphere analysis…" Dimitri listed off, pointing out into the distance at a figure emerging from the tree line. "And it looks like our friend Kirva has bagged something big."

He wasn't kidding, either. Kirva was dragging what looked to be some sort of large, hairy beast behind her. It looked like a cross between Sabre-Tooth Tiger and an American Black Bear. It had a foreign bone structure, grayish skin and large teeth.

"Kirva, are you determined to kill the entire animal population of the planet?" I scolded, crossing my arms as she dropped the beast at the foot of the cargo bay platform.

"Hey, at least this one put up a fight." She deflected, pulling at the torn part of her hood. I noticed that one of the beast's exposed teeth were missing. Sure enough, there was now a large, three inch tooth dangling off of her necklace.

That confirmed that theory.

After she started skinning the thing, I decided to walk off and visit Mara and Biss. They were relatively close, just inside the reactor room.

"No, the reactor can't produce dark energy, it just creates mass effect fields." Mara explained once more as he stared over at the eezo core. "How many times do I have to explain this?"

"Yes it does, you just aren't listening to me!" He yelled out in frustration, slamming his fist on the railing. "Element Zero is the closest thing we have to true dark matter, and every time you apply an electrical charge to it you release more dark energy!"

"Is everyone getting along in here?" I inquired as I walked over and crossed my arms.

Biss was still a difficult person to figure out. He was extremely intelligent, that much was apparent, but he was also extremely lazy and did little around the actual ship. I didn't get it. The only thing he ever jumped at was anything relating to dark energy. I was beginning to think he was some sort of savant. I couldn't deny this theories, though. They were well grounded, despite how outlandish they often sounded.

Dan and I had done a little bit of digging into dark energy during the development of the SDD back in 2023. We never got very far with it, but we did determine that it did indeed exist. Collectively, dark matter and dark energy made up about 95% of the known universe. While back then we still lacked the technology to measure the overall effects of dark energy on the world around us, we did know it was the most widespread and constant form of energy that existed.

Eezo was the closest thing we had to dark matter. Now it was what enabled us to manipulate matter via mass effect fields. Even though we now understood how to _manipulate_ the energy generated by eezo, there was the issue of what _happened_ to that energy when we stopped using it. Einstein himself said that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.

That unused energy went somewhere, but we had no idea where that place was. The most popular theory was that it was responsible for the expansion of the universe, but the universe has been expanding ever since the Big Bang.

Biss had about ten different theories as to what happened to it. The fact that he couldn't narrow any of them down was driving him insane.

"Sean, you agree with me, right?" He asked in his fast-paced, almost frantic tone while holding his hands together. Likely out of nervousness. "You agree that it does produce mass effect fields, right."

"While I do agree that it produces dark energy, Biss, I don't see how it matters when it disappears before it has any tangible effect." I explained, looking hard at him before looking back at Mara. "Besides, what kind of effect could a little ship like this have on the world around us?"

I mentally chastised myself for saying that, knowing that it's blatantly false. The pollution humanity suffered during and after the Industrial Age was a clear indication that no matter how large or small, everything effected something. The Aral Sea was one of the clearest examples of that. Formerly one of the largest lakes in the world, it was reduced to 10% of its original size in the short time span of fifty years. It became a desert.

Humanitarians back on Earth were still trying to fix the Aral Sea all these years later. It wasn't as simple as it was with California, the Aral Sea needed to have water brought to it, whereas California had a plentiful source right next to it.

"It's got to go somewhere, I'm sure of it." Biss said loudly, walking past me and back through the door, leaving me with Mara.

"He really is twitchy, isn't he?" I remarked after the door had closed. "He's even worse that Richard."

"And you let him onboard." She chastised, crossing her arms as she gently shook her head.

"Hey, I didn't really have a choice!" I defended, pointing my finger at her. "What would it say about me if I didn't accept a Pilgrimage gift like that?"

"Calm down, im just poking fun." She eased down, letting her arms hang back to her sides. "I know he's… infatuated with this topic, but I just wish he could talk about something else once and a while."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." I agreed, as both of us were left with a brief, mildly uncomfortable silence.

"So… um…" She tried to start up again, but failed after a few seconds.

"Maybe…do… you want to go take a walk outside with me?" I awkwardly invited, some of my old, brewing thoughts reemerging. "There are some beautiful shadows being case by the trees right now."

That sounded so stupid, and I wanted to punch myself for saying something so dumb and clichéd. The worst part is that she actually accepted my offer.

"OK, we can do that." She agreed after a few seconds, having visibly pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek in though. "Let me grab a coat."

Five minutes later we were silently walking together in the strange, alien woods. There was good space and the area lacked any underbrush to impede on movement. The trees were certainly interesting, they looked like oversized evergreens that had been crossed with bonsai trees. The canopy above us was at least twelve feet at its lowest, and god knows how tall it was near the top.

This was, of course, bullshit I was thinking of to distract myself from Mara. She looked so beautiful, especially with her formerly short blond hair reaching down to her shoulders. My attraction to her was becoming more and more unbearable by the day. If I was ever going to get my mind focused back on my projects I would have to say… something, I don't know.

I had to say something.

"Hey Mara… I have a… q-question I've been wanting to… ask you for a while." I said, slowing down as badly as Dan did as I spoke. She turned to face me, a look of slight confusion crossing her face.

"What's that?" She asked with and interested look and raised eyebrows.

"Over, the course of our… professional partnership, I've… noticed things, things very… important to me… I've…grown attracted to you." I admitted, gathering up all my courage in an attempt not to seize up. "On this beautiful, new world, I would like to ask… will you consider going out with me?"

My question seemed to initially confuse her, as she looked off to the sides. But then she did something I had never seen her do before. She blushed. Looking down at the ground as she tried to avoid my eyes, I noticed a smile cross her face.

"I…well…" She nervously sputtered out before finally looking back up at me. "I must admit, I have had… a mutual interest as well."

"You have?" I almost blurted out in disbelief, my eyes going wide in surprise as the lump in my throat dropped into my stomach.

"I've been attracted to you ever… ever since you rescued us from Cerberus." She admitted, looking up at me as her cheeks blazed red. "I didn't know until then, but I like a man with brains who can sport form-fitting armor."

"I could say the same about you." I replied, causing her to shoot me back a suggestive look. I mistook this at first as annoyance. "Well, I wasn't… I… well…"

"Shhhh." She stopped me with a sly smile, gently pressing her fingertip against my lips. "I accept your offer, doctor. In the meantime, I will offer you this."

She then pulled me in for a long kiss. This surprised me, causing me to almost catch on fire from how hot my cheeks got. I fully accepted it a few seconds later, returning it just as well, if not better than before. I had never kissed a woman before, I hoped I had done it right.

We slowly pulled away from one another, looking each other over for a bit before speaking again.

"I'm… thrilled you accepted my offer." I announced bluntly with a large smile on my face.

"I'm glad you offered." She shot back, giving me an equally large smile as a small pause went by. "What, you aren't going to start playing 80's love tunes, are you?"

We both laughed at that one before walking back to the ship. We talked casually to one another was we walked, and I couldn't be happier.

This was the best thing that has happened to me in years. SHE was the best thing that happened to me in years.

…

**A/N: Things are changing for our characters. Whether or not the world will change them or the other way is yet to be seen. Richard and Powell are gone, the exploration ships have discovered their first system, and Sean and Mara have hooked up. Things can only get more interesting.**

**This was a really hard one to write, I admit. The chapter initially started in the middle of the Conclave, but I decided my characters were more important than listening to the Admiralty Board go "we don't know what the Geth are doing, go about your business." Still, the hardest part was writing anything pertaining to romance or love. I was kind of inspired by the scene from the 1943 movie Madame Curie where Pierre proposes to Curie. Nerds that have trouble proposing to one another, so touching.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	13. Engagement

…

"Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But, we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for, that they're scramblin' over each other to get it. Well, I don't care if it's God's own anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, or a giant hula hoop, we're not gonna let 'em have it! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in! Am I right, Marines?" (Sergeant Johnson)

…

MSV _Explorer_, April 30th, 7:29 AM, 2183

…

I sat in the mess hall, drinking some sugarless, lukewarm coffee before redirecting my attention to a datapad. I was going over all the survey reports the other ships had sent me while listening to "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals. My job was to make sure everything was up to snuff, because today was the day we found out if this had all been worth it.

Admirals Raan, Koris and Zadie were all coming here today in one of the Liveships to check out the system. They would decide if we were going to set up shop and begin mining operations. Based on the scans alone, I'd say we were looking at a treasure trove. With all the resources here, we could have every ship in the Fleet equipped with a Reach System and a full complement of exos within a year and a half.

The Admirals would have to be brain-dead to ignore this opportunity. A whole system away from Mass Relays, filled with resources and planets. All theirs.

My thoughts were cut off as Mara walked out of the crew quarters. She was wearing nothing but shorts and a tank top, exposing her stomach and legs. She did have a blanket draped around both shoulders, likely because it was colder near the medical bay.

"Well, hello there." I greeted with an obvious smile, taking another gulp of my coffee as she stopped on the other side of the table. She let out a loud yawn before focusing on me.

"When did you get up?" She asked, stretching her arms out.

"About… 34 minutes ago." I answered, taking a chunk off my protein bar and popping it into my mouth. "Sleep well?"

"About as well as I can in a room filled with three snoring men." She remarked, rubbing her forehead before walking over to the coffee machine and pouring herself some.

"Sorry about that." I apologized with a sheepish look on my face as looked back to the reports.

"What the hell are you listening to?" She asked, walking over to the table and sitting down next to me.

"The Animals, why?" I answered, taking another bit out of the protein bar.

"Sounds like something out of one of those ancient gangster movies." She replied, hunching over with her eyes still half shut.

"That would be Casino, I believe." I said, offering her the rest of my bar. She accepted it, taking a big bit out of it before turning back to her coffee.

"Yeah, It had… Rodger DeNiro in it, right?" She asked, as I grimaced,

"Ro-BERT DeNero." I corrected, shaking my head as I took yet another swig of my coffee. "Yeah, him, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone."

"Movie aficionado, huh?" She commented, sipping her hot coffee and letting out a slow sigh. "Tell me, what's your favorite movie?"

That was actually a good question, now that I thought about it. I had considered many movies to be my favorite over the years, though when it came to it I usually tried to narrow down a category. If I had to pick a favorite…

"I'd have to say Interstellar." I answered, leaning back in my chair and focusing on her.

"I've never watched it." She replied, turning to face me. "What's it about?"

"There's not much I can tell you without spoiling the story." I explained, looking harder into her eyes. "It's about a man who sets out to save the human race."

"Sounds kind of clichéd." She remarked with a frown, tilting her head. "I'm assuming there's more to it than that."

"You'd be correct." I said, looking up at the holographic model of the Saturn V that was perpetually being broadcast over the table. I had put it there to memorialize the one that had been destroyed on Aldrin, alone with all my other worldly possessions.

"I'll tell you what." Mara began, throwing one of her legs up onto the table. "If the Admirals go forth and begin operations in this system, I'll watch Interstellar with you."

"And if they don't?" I inquired, giving her raised eyebrows.

"Then you have to watch The English Patient with me instead." She answered, giving me a sly smile.

I turned my head slightly, pursing my lips as I shook my head.

"Damn it." I exclaimed, smiling at her. "Talk about clichéd…"

"How did I know that would be your reaction?" She asked out loud, leaning her head against her hand.

"Heh, I accept your offer." I said, giving her a playful handshake before looking off to the side once more in disbelief. "The English Patient, I swear…"

We finished up breakfast before splitting up again. I got fully dressed and walked up to the bridge to check on everything. The Admirals would be coming aboard my ship this time, and I wanted to make sure everything was in tip-top condition.

"So… what did you do last night, Lydia?" I asked out loud, her ghostly hologram appearing to my left on the projector.

"Stirred the oxygen tanks, regulated the reactor, and ran another blood test on the wildlife." She answered, placing one of her hands on her hip as she spoke. "You know, the usual."

"Heh, any changes in the system?" I inquired further, taking a seat at the radar station and looking at the latest radar scan. The scans took the form of a sphere, showing the maximum area of about several hundred thousand miles, our current range.

"Nope, the scout flotilla is holding formation behind us, in a stable orbit around Reach." She answered, as the ships behind us could be seen on both the radar and rearview camera. We were holding in a defensive formation, a standard in the Migrant Fleet I had learned. All the ships were positioned so one could cover the other in case of focused fire on one ship.

I stared out the window at Reach for a moment before looking back to the last report. The largest asteroid in orbit around Mėlynas, the blue gas giant, contained an abundance of iron, along with trace amounts of silicon and osmium. In contrast, the largest one around Geltonas, the yellow gas giant, contained almost nothing but platinum. It looked fairly promising, and considering the quarians and their proficiency with strip mining, we could easily set up shop on both bodies within a month.

The next thought in my head was cut short as the radar beeped, eight new contacts entering the system.

"They're here already?" I remarked in mild confusion, moving out of my relaxed posture to focus on the signatures. "Wait, that isn't right…"

The first alarm went off when I noticed the new contacts didn't have the same IFFs as us, and looked to be of MSV classification. The second went off when I saw they were spread out in what looked to be a standard attack formation. The third and final alarm when I saw their flying colors and insignia.

It was Cerberus.

"Lydia, tell everyone to get their asses up and into their battle stations, we've got Cerberus inbound!" I yelled, the red emergency lights going on as I opened up comms with the other captains. "All ships, all ships, we have Cerberus ships in-system, standard attack formation!"

"_How do we know they have hostile intent?_" Captain Teera'Soran asked over the comm unit, sounding confused.

"There's no way they got here without the tech they stole from my ship. They must have caught our scent again." I answered quickly, warming up the 250mm cannons that remained on our ship. "There's no other reason why they'd be all the way out here in the middle of nowhere."

"_Sounds good. Orders?_" She replied, her ship right on my tail.

"Line up behind my ship and assume defensive formation." I replied, jumping over the console into the pilot's chair. "Armed ships in the front, non-combatants in the back. Whatever happens, we need to defend the civilian ships. I'll send out the emergency broadcast."

"Understood, we will follow your lead." She finished, cutting the line as the door behind me burst open.

"Cerberus is back?" Dan asked out loud, looking down at me with a grim expression. I nodded, as he looked back to Dimitri.

"Two cruisers, six frigates. There's too many of them to take on at once, and if we flee they'll surely follow us back to the Fleet." Dimitri assessed with an expression similar to Dan's. "Any ideas?"

"I got one." I started, sending out our distress signal as I revved up the engines. "The way I see it, we're the only ones that have drift charts to Mėlynas' asteroid belts, right?"

"You c…can't be serious." Dan remarked with an even more fearful look in his eyes. "You w-want to pull a Han Solo maneuver?"

"We move the flotilla into the asteroid field, then we break off and evade them around Geltonas until the Admirals and their ships arrive." I explained with a deadpan, accelerating towards the gas giant and away from Reach. "Seeing as how they found us in such a remote location, I'm guessing they must have hidden a tracking device on our ship somewhere."

"How could that be possible?" Dan asked, now looking more confused than scared. "We were there in the F-fleet all that time, why cho…choose now to come after us?"

"If they were to attack the Fleet to get to us, they'd get slaughtered." Dimitri reluctantly agreed, taking a seat at the radar station. "While I don't agree with your plan, Sean, I see no other option."

"God help us." Dan finished with a deathly look on his face as he strapped himself into the communications console.

We accelerated as fast as we could, making the quick jump to Mėlynas in an attempt to buy ourselves more time.

"_I hope you know what you're doing, Captain!_" Teera'Soran said over the comm channel, sounding even more nervous than I did. "_If we get into a fight in that field we're not going to last long._"

"Don't worry, once everyone is inside the field my ship will split off and draw the Cerberus ships away." I reassured, as we neared the field. "We're the ones they want, we're not going to risk the civilian ships by sticking with the group."

"_But that's suicide! You won't be able to hold off against eight ships!_" She countered, worried for us.

"I appreciate your concern, captain, but we have no other choice." I refuted, as Cerberus just made their own jump to our system. "We stay with the flotilla and the civilian ships get reduced to slag."

There was a brief pause before she came back on the channel.

"_Come back alive._" She replied, sounding somber as their ships began moving into the fields.

The channel closed once again as we began to move away from the flotilla. We performed on more quick jump away from the group to see they were now taking the bait. All eight ships turned towards us, ignoring the flotilla entirely. I let out a small sigh of relief as another several hundred pounds of stress landed on my shoulders.

"Hail the Cerberus ships with a message." I ordered, causing a look of confusion to cross Dan's face before he nodded. Still accelerating, I spoke loudly and clearly. "We know why you people are here, why don't you tell me who's in charge?"

The signal was sent, and several quiet seconds went by before we received a reply ping.

"_Dr. Michaels… we meet again_." An all-too familiar face greeted on the main screen.

It was the Director. Lynda Embry.

"You… no, you should be dead!" I yelled at the screen, suddenly enraged by her sight.

"_I should be, but I'm not_." She replied with a devilish grin, holding her hands behind her back. "_I should really thank you, doctor. I've never felt better in my whole life_."

It was obviously her, though she didn't look the same she did a year ago. Her veins and blood vessels were much more prominent than they were before, her head was shaved, and it looked as if her eyes had received cybernetic enhancements. They had an orange-red color to them, and seemed to bore into me.

"If you think you can just waltz in her with technology you stole from us and take us back to that place, you are dead wrong." I threatened as she… laughed.

"_Tisk, tisk, tisk… doctor, don't you realize that tech is Cerberus property?_" She smiled back in her evil grin. "_Besides, we're not going to take you back to Minuteman, we've got a much… cozier facility, the Barn, itching to get their hands on you, your crew, the A.I.s, and the ship_."

"Over my dead body." I replied with finality, as she dipped her head slightly.

"_That's the plan_." She smiled, looking harder at me. "_Even though The Illusive Man wanted all of you alive, I've convinced him to let me do with __**you**__ what I want. When I'm done with you doctor, you will beg for mercy_."

I cut off the transmission without another word, as Dan and Dimitri shot me the same worried looks. They weren't just worried for themselves now, they were worried for me. If Lynda got her hands on me, she would torture me and eventually have me put to death.

I didn't plan on that happening anytime soon.

"How do you plan on evading them around Geltonas?" Lydia asked, popping up next to me on the projector. "I didn't see anything about an asteroid belt in the reports."

"The giant has an unstable gravitational field that throws gasses into its orbit, creating a nebula." I explained, as we made our jump to the planet in question. "We hide in there where the sensors are useless, and hopefully we can evade them long enough for reinforcements to arrive."

"But that means we won't be able to see them either once we're inside." Lydia countered with another worried look.

"That's a risk we'll have to take." I replied with a similar expression, as she and the other two shot each other looks.

"I'll see what I can scrape together for navigation." Lydia agreed with a slowly dropping expression. "Don't try to be a hero in there, Sean. One wrong move and we're a sitting duck."

I acknowledged her with a glance before gunning towards the nebula. Though the planet itself was a yellowish color, its gasses turned a thick shade of blue once outside the atmosphere. We had made it to the nebula just as Lynda's flotilla jumped to our location.

"_Hiding isn't going to save you, doctor._" Lynda mocked over the broadband, which by default couldn't be shut off on Alliance ships. "_The longer you keep this little effort of your going, the longer I'll keep you alive before I kill you._"

"Oh, I am going to enjoy killing you, you fucking bitch." I said under my breath as the blue gasses of the nebula consumed our ship.

"The gasses are creating electrical disturbances with our kinetic barriers." Dimitri said, shooting us a deathly look. "We'll have to shut them off or else we'll fry the hull."

I nodded, as the minor alert shut off. The radar went dead, as everything grew quiet. We were now silent running.

Using only our emergency thrusters to move as to not give off an engine signature, we crept our way through the all-consuming cloud. Only now, under the threat of quick and almost certain death did I understand what submarine crews had to go through all those years ago. It was terrifying. I began to imagine a sonar ping in my head to mentally break up the dead silence, which was only broken by the muffled sounds of the emergency thrusters.

While in reality about six minutes had passed, to me it felt more like hours. Only after those painful six minutes did anyone make a peep.

"I'm picking up something off our port side." Lydia reported, snapping us all to her attention. "Wait… the starboard side too?"

"They're flanking us, go down!" I silently ordered, as the thrusters went off and a faint falling sensation could be felt in my stomach.

I was right, and not a moment too soon. Just as the radar picked them up, they both fired at where we just were. Ironically, instead of hitting us with a crippling blow, they instead blasted each other with their main cannons. We could all see the explosions above us as both ships went up in fire.

"Stupid bastards…" Dan commented with a slight grin, looking over at me and Dimitri.

We fired off a few more times, drifting back towards the edge of the field to see if there were any camping outside. Of course, Lynda's ship was the one holding guard duty while the others searched for us in the nebula.

"I got an idea." Dimitri suggested, pointing at the ship's signature. "Launch a few of our escape pods, maybe they'll think that one of the dead ships are ours."

"Good plan, do it." I agreed, as three thumps could be heard from our port side. The pods were away and drifting out of the field, they would hopefully be enough to distract her ship.

We waited just a few more minutes deeper in the nebula, moving back to the edge to see if she had taken the bait. When we had arrived back, we saw that she was gone.

"Where did she go?" Dan asked out loud, frantically looking around to try and spot the ship.

"Signal off our stern! She's behind us!" Lydia yelled through the bridge speakers, as several heavy thumps resonated through the ship.

"Blast her with our cannons, her barriers are still down!" I ordered, slamming my fist down on the console as I gunned the engines as hard as I could away from the nebula.

I watched through the rearview monitor as our cannon rounds ripped into her frigate. Though her ship didn't have nearly as much armor as ours did, hers was almost twice the size. It ate up the rounds, still moving towards us out of the nebula.

Our ship was peppered with mass accelerator rounds, barely repelling them with our half-power kinetic barriers. I knew we needed to do something now or risk hull damage.

Suddenly, without warning, Lynda's ship exploded into three different pieces as its reactor took a round and violently exploded.

"Yeah, we did it!" I yelled triumphantly, jumping out of my seat and giving Dan a high-five. "That's what happens when you mess with the best!"

"Wait a second, that wasn't us…" Dimitri corrected, causing Dan and I to turn back to face the monitor.

What we witnessed was truly awe-inspiring. Through the cloud, the massive, spherical front end of a quarian Liveship practically pushed the clouds of the nebula out of its way, emerging along with over a dozen quarian frigates and cruisers.

"_Captain Michaels, It appears we have arrived ahead of schedule._" I heard Raan's always familiar voice announce over the broadband, sending waves of relief washing over me.

It was over, and we had survived.

…

MSV _Explorer_, April 30th, 10:41 AM, 2183

…

I silently waited in the conference room while the rest of my crew checked over the ship for any tracking devices. While they did that, I was waiting for the Admirals to arrive.

The incursion into our system by Cerberus had thrown a wrench into our gears, to say the least. We had all been rather lucky, we hadn't suffered any serious damage unlike last time, and none of the exploration flotilla had been damaged while traveling in the asteroid field. All things considered, we did well.

Everyone below deck were understandably scared out of their minds during the attack, though no one suffered any injuries aside from a few bruises on Biss, who had apparently failed to secure his chair's harness correctly. They were all understandably timid, mostly due to our lack of communication with them during the attack. I understood why, being down there is like being on a jet liner. You have no control.

The doors slid open to the room, revealing Raan, Zadie, and Koris. They moved with a purpose, meaning they wanted to discuss more than mining opportunities.

"Welcome Admirals." I greeted, giving each one of them a firm handshake. "I wish we could have met under more… ideal circumstances."

"As do we, Captain." Raan nodded, folding her hands behind her back and nodding slightly.

"We know you pushed hard for this exploration project, Captain, and we want you to know now that we will be setting up mining operations in this system." Koris said, making my heart shoot up into my chest in sudden but controlled glee. "We know how much you wanted this, and we're not going to deny you or the other captains of this after what you all went through."

"That brings us to what we really want to talk about, Captain." Raan redirected, looking harder at me.

"Cerberus." I replied out loud, straightening my posture.

"Yes." Zadie confirmed, taking a step forward with crossed arms. "While we were combing the wreckage of their ships in the nebula, we found several escape pods. One of them had an interesting person inside of it."

"Are you kidding me? She's still alive after all of that?" I grimaced, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

"You are referring to the woman with the cybernetic enhancements, correct?" Raan inquired, as I shook my head in confirmation. "We want to know who she is, she killed one of our marines before three others in exo suits managed to subdue her."

"She and I have… a bit of history." I started, taking a seat as the Admirals did the same. "Back when my colleagues and I still worked for the Alliance, she was the commanding officer at our research station. A year later when we discovered small packets of our research being sent off to an unknown location, the station was suddenly and viciously attacked by Cerberus commandos."

"Your administrator, she was the one exposing your research?" Koris questioned, motioning slightly with his hands as he rested them on the table.

"Yeah, it turned out she was with Cerberus the whole time, using her position to leak top-secret Alliance information to the bastards." I answered, continuing with my explanation. "About two months later when I fully regained consciousness, she tried to trick me into thinking she was still Alliance. I performed a quick interrogation, forcing the location of my colleagues out of her before injecting her with blood thinner and leaving her for dead. She should have died from the injection I gave her."

"You tried to kill her?" Zadie asked, tilting her head slightly as she spoke.

"Hell yes I tried to kill her, she betrayed the Alliance and killed everyone else on that station. She deserved it and more." I justified, getting slightly heated before forcing myself to calm down. "That was the last time I saw her until today. It would appear this "Illusive Man" character gave her a few upgrades or something, based on what I saw of her during the attack."

The Admirals sat there in silence for a few seconds before turning back to me.

"This woman… we're debating what to do with her." Raan admitted, looking between me and the other two Admirals. "She's obviously dangerous, but we don't want to kill her unless we have to."

"Why not? She already killed one of the marines, dump her out the nearest airlock!" I said, standing up and slamming my fist onto the table in anger. They just stared at me before I slowly sat down in shame. "I'm sorry for that outburst, it's just… damn it."

"We understand your concern, Captain. While we understand how dangerous she is, she may also have valuable information we can use against Cerberus. Information we can use against them if we ever come to blows again." Raan tried to explain, dropping my feelings into my stomach.

"If that's the way you want to do it, I won't stop you." I gave in, waving my hand dismissively as I shook my head. "I'm telling you now, the longer that woman breaths, the more of a danger she becomes to all of us."

"Then maybe you can help us." Koris suggested, regaining my attention. "You appear to know her well, perhaps you can assist in our interrogations, maybe advise our men on her history or mannerisms?"

I thought about it for ten second before answered to his proposal.

"No, if I'm going to be involved with interrogating her, I want to be one hundred percent involved." I agreed, looking down slightly at them.

It didn't matter, nothing I did would make her feel all the pain those poor souls on Aldrin felt that day.

…

**A/N: Our friends and their flotilla survived unscathed, and the old administrator has returned with a few Cerberus upgrades. Let's hope she's in the mood for a conversation.**

**This chapter was a real challenge for me, because I haven't tried doing long, drawn out sequences like this before. It was honestly a lot of fun when I got my writing groove on, and I can honestly say I loved writing this chapter. I obviously took a lot of inspiration from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan when writing this sequence, and I think I did very well.**

**If anyone knows any good artists that'll do concepts out of the goodness of their own hearts, I'd love to hear about them. I've been itching to try and get a group photo of the whole Explorer crew, and I really don't have the money to spend on commissions.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	14. Introspection

REVISED 12/16/2015

…

The CIA teamed up with Army, Air Force and Naval Intelligence to run one of the most nefarious, classified, enhanced interrogation programs of the Cold War. The work took place inside a clandestine facility in the American zone of occupied Germany, called Camp King. (Annie Jacobsen)

…

MFV _Harc_, May 1st, 4:11 PM, 2183

…

I sat patiently in the room next to Lynda's holding cell, watching her stare straight ahead as she waited to see what would happen. She was secured tightly to a restrain chair, wearing nothing but a pair of gray t-shirts and pants. She occasionally looked at the two-way mirror that separated us, and I wasn't sure if she could see us or not with those new eyes of hers. If she did, she wasn't making any indications.

I had to admit, I was already ashamed of myself. I had never been an overly violent person, I was always the kind who "ended up" in fights or tried to talk their way out of things. Seeing her here, though… I wanted to walk in and put a bullet right between her eyes. I was brought up better than that…

"What's going through your head, my friend?" Dimitri asked, standing just to my left without looking at me. I turned to him to see his chiseled face sporting a large scowl.

"I'm trying to think of a way of doing this without killing her… at least not yet." I replied, hands folded firmly behind my back as I looked back at Queen Bitch.

"I know how you feel, don't worry." Dimitri eased, taking in a big breath and releasing it a second later. "I want her dead just as much as you do, but we'll need to keep each other in check if we want the information the Admirals are asking for."

The Admirals… after everyone had been debriefed yesterday, Rael and Gerrel sent us a personal communication congratulating our success in both finding a suitable system to begin operations in, and capturing a high-ranking Cerberus operative. It had actually been the Marines that captured her, but it all meant the same in the end. Their message also came with a specific set of orders for the Admiralty's eyes only.

We'd get our questions from Zadie, who would watch me and Dimitri to make sure the interrogation didn't get out of hand. They wanted to squeeze Lynda like a lemon, and we were the press.

Zadie walked into the room a few minutes later, nodding to us without a word as we filed out of the observation room. The two exo-equipped marines stepped off to the side, allowing us into the room. She looked up at us with mild surprise, cocking her head and looking back up at the ceiling.

As soon as the hiss of the door sealing could be heard, we started.

"So… how are the accommodations, Administrator?" I asked, giving her a big smile as I began walking around her. Dimitri flanked me, walking along the opposite side with what I could only describe as barely contained anger.

"Lovely." Lynda replied calmly, still staring at the ceiling as she spoke. She then turned to me, shooting daggers in the process. "How's your little ship? Word was you were a little beat up after that incident over Eden Prime."

"Tell me, Lynda… do you remember George W. Bush's presidential administration?" I asked, ignoring her question as looked harder into her burning eyes.

"I think I remember a thing or two." He scoffed, rolling her eyes as if this was just some sort of joke. "Can we get on with this, doctor? I'm quite a busy woman."

"Oh, I think you'll have to miss a few meetings, Lynda." I disregarded, plucking a dirty, oily rag out of my back pocket and handing it to Dimitri. "You see, after the 9/11 attacks back in 2001, the CIA made great used of enhanced interrogation techniques to find the perpetrator, Osama Bin Laden. They worked pretty well, I've heard."

"Enhanced interrogation techniques? Phf." She repeated back, scoffing once again. "Yeah, you're real scary, doctor."

"I'll start us off with a simple one." I continued after reading my omni-tool, picking up a can of water as I walked around her again. "Where is this Cerberus facility you mentioned, The Barn?"

"What, you think threatening me with torture will get me to sing like a bird?" She shot back, anger starting to form in her voice. "Go back to science, doctor. You're better at it."

"Very well." I finished with pursed lips, as Dimitri pulled the rag over her face. I poured the water over the rag, triggering her gag reflex as she began struggling. We held the rag on as we constantly applied the water. She swung her shoulders back and forth violently as she began feeling a drowning sensation.

I felt sick to the stomach as I did this, even though I swore to myself every second that she deserved every bit of it. This was clearly inhumane, but every fiber of my being demanded retribution for all the lives taken on Aldrin.

"Mphf! Mfh!" She struggled to breathe as we pulled the rag off of her face. Water dripped off of her head as she struggled for air.

"Where's the Barn!?" I yelled at her, whose face was red and had mucus all over her nose.

"Go…to hell." She replied back, as I looked back up at Dimitri. He pulled the rag back over her face and we began the process all over again. I dropped the empty water can, picking up another one as she desperately tried to get air to her lungs.

"I really hope you are enjoying this as much as I am." I mocked, partially lying to myself as the rag was pulled off her face once again. She gasped for air, looking as if she had seen a ghost. "You wanna answer this time, or do we have to go for another swim?"

"OK…OK!" She replied, looking at me with narrowed eyes. "It's… in… the Titan Nebula… Haskins system… just please… sto-"

Dimitri and I suddenly reared back as she started screaming out at the top of her lungs, eyes bulging out of their sockets. Her already discolored veins could be seen turning black as she began having violent muscle spasms. She actually managed to pull off one of the arm braces to our surprise, as she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer.

"Send… my regards… to the… Illusive… M-man…" She gasped out slower and slower, smiling before her grip went limp. Her eyes turned dark as she slumped back into her chair, dead.

"What the hell just happened!?" Admiral Zadie demanded, storming into the room with the two marines who had been posted outside.

"She gave us an answer." I answered with a blank expression, looking at her dead eyes still staring at me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, you bosh'tet?!" She yelled, clearly infuriated that our captive was inexplicitly dead.

"Cerberus must have installed a kill switch somewhere in her implants." Dimitri hypothesized, sighing as he crossed his arms and looked down at her. "She speaks, she dies."

"If that's so, then why didn't she hold her tongue?" She probed further, her voice calming down slightly.

"Who's to say they told her about it?" I replied, picking up Lynda's hand and looking at her wrists. They had been bloodied by all the force exerted on them, and it was clear that they were broken on top of that.

I shook my head, another weight feeling as if it had just drifted off of my body. Lynda was now completely dead, but I felt neither happy nor sad about it. I just stared back into her cloudy eyes, wondering what I was becoming.

I didn't like it.

…

MFV _Explorer_, May 8th, 6:11 PM, 2183

…

I sat alone in the bridge, staring up at the stars and the ships as I was immersed in thought.

A week had passed since Lynda's death, and I was still reeling from the implications of it all. What the Admirals eventually planned to do with the tiny bit of information we got out of her, I had no idea, though Zadie told me she would let us know.

Personally, I was still deeply disappointed in myself for what I took part in. It didn't matter what she had done in the past, what I did was inhumane and I was better than that. Allowing myself to sink down to that level, HER level… my parents raised me better than that.

I dwelled on it, taking another swig of the Guinness that we had been slowly stockpiling over the last year. Sure, it came in a can, but beer was still beer at the end of the day.

The door behind me opened, revealing Mara. I honestly hadn't talked too much to her since that day on the _Harc_.

"What's going on, Sean?" She asked with genuine curiosity, walking over and standing above me. "Everyone else is downstairs having dinner and you're up here drinking all our beer."

"I don't really know myself, to be honest." I replied, looking up at her as I took another sip. "I just… I don't know."

Mara looked down on me with a frown, taking a seat to my left in the radar chair.

"Has all this moping been about that vile bitch?" She asked, looking into my eyes with concern.

I sighed, nodding before taking a large swig of the Guinness.

"Look, Dimitri told me what happened in that room, you can talk to me about it." She explained, poking my elbow with the tip of her finger.

"What is there to talk about?" I replied, voice raising slightly as my emotions started to express themselves. "Talk about how I brought myself down to her level? About how I violated someone's basic human rights? For nothing?"

I covered my eyes with my hand, taking a deep breath as I held back tears of shame.

"Sean, please don't beat yourself up over her." She tried to reason, putting her hand on my shoulder. "After what she did on Aldrin, after she had all those people killed, even I would had jumped at an opportunity to make her feel even a bit of pain."

"That's the thing, Mara." I countered, looking her straight in the eyes. "I never would have done something like this two years ago… dear God, my parents would never forgive me for this."

There was another moment of silence, where Mara just looked at me with pity. She then picked up the other can of Guinness next to my chair, leaning back into the radar station seat and looking up.

"You never have told me about your parents." She mused, cracking open the can and taking a sip. "Were they nice people?"

I sighed, nodding my head as I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"Yeah, they were the nicest parents a young boy could ask for." I replied with a smile, looking back out the window at the shimmering stars. "My mother was a tough but kind woman, had this glowing smile and long brown hair that always made my day a little bit better. My father was a tall, imposing man with gunmetal gray hair and a crude sense of humor. Both of them balanced the other out, and I looked up to them like a kid looks up to superheroes."

"I think you mentioned something about your father being a police officer a while back?" Mara continued, looking back over to me.

"Yeah, he worked for the Baltimore City Police Department for almost a decade. Loved helping people, serving the public trust, keeping the peace…" I said, the mental image of his scarred knee entering my mind once more. "He had to be medically retired after his kneecap was busted during a call one night."

Mara simply shook her head in sympathy, her lips forming a frown.

"What about your mother? What did she do for a living?" She asked, taking another sip of the cold beer.

"My mom was a homemaker, though she did hold a job while my father was going through surgery and recovery." I answered, smiling as I pictured her face. "She was so smart, helped me learn so many things."

Mara smiled, swishing her can as my face changed.

"The last time I saw her, she yelled at me for not going to church." I recalled, looking ahead once more. "I told her that what I was doing was more important, and that praying to a non-existent God wasn't going to help anything."

Tears started rolling out of my eyes as I realized what I had left her with for all those years. All that time she was alone… she must have been so disappointed.

My thoughts were thrown off as I felt Mara put her arms around me, giving me a tight hug as she rocked back and forth slightly.

"We all make mistakes, Sean." She said in a, bumping her head gently into mine as I wiped away the tears.

"I know." I replied, looking up at her. "There are so many things I want to take back, but I can't. It's never easy facing your personal demons."

Mara let out a small sigh, letting go. She picked up her can and opened the door, looking back at me.

"Come on, let's go have dinner with the others." She said, nodding towards the hallway. "Everyone misses you."

I smiled, picking up my can of Guinness and following her out of the cockpit.

…

Serenity Valley, June 14th, 7:37 AM, 2183

…

Over the last month, things had been surprisingly quiet. With my personal project "Haven Plan" accepted and accomplished, more and more of the system was being harvested for resources. Slowly but surely, more and more ships back in the heart of the Migrant Fleet were being equipped with our Reach System, and even though Reach wasn't a dextro-amino world, that didn't stop the quarians from setting up shop.

The valley we initially landed in was now called Serenity Valley, much to giddiness of Dan and his sister. We had all watched Firefly in high school, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to show my downright nerdy side again. About eight miles west of Serenity Valley was Pacem Fields, where the Migrant Fleet marines had established Camp Dolor.

Camp Dolor was quickly gaining a reputation in the Fleet, being dubbed "Camp Pain" by many of the marines that had gone through its training regimen. It had two purposes, flat and simple. The first, and most evident was to supply the Migrant Fleet marines with proper ground combat training in preparation for retaking Rannoch. The second, and more hidden one, was to provide a better testing site for the experimental tech we were developing. About a week ago, Rael's research team finally finished refining the plasma cells I had been trying so long to perfect. He sent the new rifles to us, and we were currently running it through testing to make sure it could withstand rigorous field use.

That didn't matter right now, though. I right now I was more worried about the recent news coming out of Alliance and Citadel space. The Geth had been mostly "a non-issue" since the attack on Eden Prime, but reports were stacking up. Apparently, the Geth had decided to follow some nutjob called Saren, who had previously worked for some "peace-keeping" Council group called the SPECTRES. While that indeed was odd, there was also a lot of press on some Alliance character called Commander Shepard.

Apparently the reason why he's such hot shit with the press is because he's the first human to ever be accepted into the SPECTRES. I didn't get why it was so important, I thought the Alliance would have been well-equipped enough to deal with the likes of the Geth. In all likelihood, suspected this Shepard character to be some kind of poster boy, like Audie Murphy from the Second World War.

I shrugged it off, looking back to Mara who was still sleeping soundly in our bed. We had all been given our own colony prefabs by the Admiralty for our services. Deep down, I knew the Admirals saw us as important assets and were just pampering us. I may have enjoyed being pampered back on Aldrin, but I had honestly gotten used to the quarian living style. It didn't feel right to sleep in a prefab when there were quarians in the ships above us still bumping shoulders with one another.

Despite my insistence that it was too much, Mara made me stick with it. She was quite the persuasive woman when she wanted to be, and I found it hard to say no to her. It actually scared me a little bit because she reminded me a lot of my mother.

I walked over and took a seat on her bedside, holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee. She slowly stirred, squinting her shut eyes before opening them.

"Mornin', sleepyhead." I said with a smile, offering her the cup. She pushed herself into an upright position before accepting it. She took a deep gulp, sighing as the drink entered her system.

"Thanks, it has just the right amount of sugar in it." She critiqued, leaning over and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Ooh, in a good mood this morning, I see." I remarked, smiling as I jumped back onto the bed and crossed my legs.

"Any morning is a good one when I wake up from a night of uninterrupted sleep." She replied, looking seductively at me. "How about you?"

"I slept like a baby." I said, leaning back and picking up my coffee mug from my bedside.

"Glad to hear it." She finished, setting down her mug and opening her omni-tool.

I stared out the large window at the sunrise for a bit, going over our itinerary for the day. I gulped down the bittersweet mixture as I remembered a deal I had made.

"You know, Rael wants us to give him the verdict on the Plasma Rifle soon." I reminded, staring into my coffee cup. "What's your opinion?"

"Well, I'd like to put it through at least one more field test, maybe try some more controlled environment trials." She suggested, looking over at me with a more focused expression. "Why?"

"He's really riding my ass on the prototype." I answered, rubbing the back of my neck. "He and Gerrel are eager to begin production on the rifles, most likely for arming the Marines."

"He's such a blowhard, I swear." Mara remarked, shaking her head.

"To be fair, he's just trying to protect his people." I defended, knowing just how much the homeworld meant to him. He often mentioned making a promise to his daughter to build her a home on the homeworld. His heart was in the right place.

"I guess these Geth incursions into the Traverse aren't helping." Mara correctly guessed, as I thought back to the news stories I had read.

"Yeah, pretty much." I agreed, sitting back and opening up my message box

…

Pacem Fields, June 14th, 8:45 AM, 2183

…

"Come on, you worthless bos'tets! I know you can all move faster than that!" I heard a quarian drill sergeant jeer in the distance as I looked out over the camp.

Camp Dolor had a layout similar to Camp Toccoa from World War II, where Easy Company was trained before being shipped off to participate in D-Day. Barracks were tightly packed next to each other, which were basically larger, stripped down prefabs packed with as many quarian marines as possible. There were larger buildings off to the sides where weapons, armor, and other equipment was stored. All the way on the opposite end of the camp was our R&amp;D lab, tightly locked away from prying eyes behind several feet of titanium plating.

The most prominent feature of the camp had to be the large communications array at the top of the nearby hill, which was clearly visible above the tree line.

Mara, Dimitri, Dan and I all walked up to the guards, giving them our IDs even though they knew it was us. Inside the large, reinforced building, several of the Migrant Fleet's best minds teetered away with our tech, old and new. Dan and Dimitri's "Terahertz Locator", their wave-based detection device, was the current focus of a lot of them at the moment. They were trying to miniaturize it as much as they could so it could be mounted on suits or carried more easily. There was also the small issue of it causing mild nausea due to the sound waves it produced, which fucked with the water inside a quarian's ear.

It was a temporary health issue, non-life threatening and all that jazz, but quarians didn't like throwing up into their helmets. It tended to be… messy.

Mara and I were going to try and finish up the trials on the Plasma Gun so we could finally start working on something else for a change. Today was going to be a fairly easy trial, all we would be doing is testing the weapon system in conjunction with an exo suit. The suits were great platforms for testing the rifles, mostly due to their built-in shield systems and whatnot. If hooked up properly, the suit's power could boost plasma efficiency up to 8%. A small margin, but worth looking into.

I was more curious to see if using the gun while it was hooked to the exo would cause any malfunctions, such as seizing or otherwise. If it did, we'd have to wipe the option off the list, no matter how much the power boost was a benefit.

Inside the indoor testing range, Private Cinta'Harra was already there waiting for us, hooked firmly into his standard-issue exo. He had painted the exo blue and black to match his envirosuit.

"Well Cinta, today should be our last test with the Plasma Gun, if all goes well." I reassured, putting my hand on his shoulder. "We're going to hook your suit's power supply into the gun this time around and have you run both the standard and advanced courses."

"Yes sir." He agreed with a slight nod, walking over to Mara who was getting ready to connect both pieces of equipment with a power cord. The cell in the back of the Plasma Gun glowed, casting part of the workbench in a blue tinge.

Even with my favorite color being green, I loved that shade of blue.

"Alright, take this." Mara ordered, handing the gun to Cinta, who practiced proper trigger discipline as Mara attached the gun to his suit's primary power supply. "Alright, that should do it. Go to the start of the course and wait for the buzzer."

"Yes ma'am." He agreed with another nod, walking down the stairs as we made our way to the observation platform. From here, we had a good view of the whole course and cameras for our blind spots. The Admiralty didn't spare any expense.

I rang the buzzer, sending the door at the beginning of the course slamming into the floor. Cinta was out the gate in less than a second, gunning down the holographic targets in his path with relative ease. He cleared out the main building before hitting a watchtower, sending the targets "falling to their deaths". He crossed the finish line at three minutes and forty-seven seconds to the clock, a new record.

"Good job, Cinta." Mara congratulated as he walked back up. "Now, tell us. Did you experience any problems with the suit while firing the gun?"

"No, everything seemed to check out." He answered bluntly, staring between the both of us. "Oh, except the barriers. They drained slightly while firing the gun."

"Interesting, likely a brownout issue." I hypothesized, rubbing my goatee. "If we set up a little program that regulates the power supply accordingly, it might mitigate the draw on barriers."

"Or the drain could be associated with the difference between battery models." Mara suggested "There are significant differences between the ones we use for the suits and the ones we use for the rifles."

"I guess we'll find out after reviewing you suit's technical log." I finished while looking back to Cinta. He gave me a nod.

Just before Mara spoke, one of our techs came through the door with a datapad tightly clutched in her hand.

"Doctor, you have a priority message from Admiral Rael'Zorah!" She said out loud, running over and handing me the pad. "He said it's urgent."

"Thank you." I nodded, Mara waving away both her and Cinta. Once they were gone, we both stood shoulder to shoulder to see what was going on. A blurry image of Rael appeared as the connection was established, flickering a bit before clearing up.

"_Captain, we've had a development back here in the Fleet._" Rael started, sounding slightly nervous.

"What is it, Admiral?" I questioned, looking harder at him. "It must be pretty big if you're contacting us this close to the Plasma Rifle deadline."

He looked off to the side and inhaled deeply before focusing on me again.

"_We were running a mining op on a rouge asteroid near Sigurd's Cradle when we ran across what appears to be a derelict Geth ship._" He said, causing me and Mara to give each other confirming looks before focusing back. "_I'm sure you can understand what this could mean. It is for this reason I want you to gather two of your team members and bring them back to the Flotilla for a research mission._"

"You don't seem particularly excited about this." I pointed out, causing the Admiral's shoulders to slump slightly.

"_Right now, I'm more worried about my people._" Rael admitted as Mara and I listened intently. "_We instituted a blackout among the ships that discovered it for now. I don't know if this is some sort of ploy to infiltrate the Flotilla, a disabled ship filled with active Geth, or if it really is a derelict. At this point, I'm not willing to take any chances._"

"I understand." I nodded, mind racing with possibilities and theories. "When do you want us there?"

"I would like to have you here as soon as possible. The sooner this situation is resolved, the sooner the other Admirals and I can call the all-clear and being salvage operations." Rael said with finality. "See you when you arrive."

The transmission abruptly cut off, leaving the room with an uncomfortable silence.

I needed to get a team together. And fast.

…

**A/N: I am so sorry to everyone for not posting anything the last few months. I've been victim to a large series of… bad events. Half of the time I've been in the hospital recovering from a semi-threatening sickness I'm not willing to name, and the other half I've been struggling to keep a handle on the most stressful college semester I've ever had. **

**I think most people can agree that the will to write is greatly diminished when you have four or five essays to write at any given time. Imagine doing that three times over the course of one semester. That, coupled with my illness, has made my life particularly difficult as of late.**

**Anyways, from this point on I'm going to try and work on the story again. Hopefully, chapters will begin to come out on a semi-regular basis again, and if anything else happens to me again I will make sure to let you guys know. I can't apologize enough for leaving you guys hanging all these months.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	15. Derelict

…

"We're made up of thousands of parts with thousands of functions all working in tandem to keep us alive. Yet if only one part of our imperfect machine fails, life fails. It makes one realize how fragile... how flawed we are..." (Ingun Black-Briar)

…

MFV _Chello_, June 14th, 11:49 AM, 2183

…

"_In other news, a batarian terrorist plot above the human colony of Terra Nova has been everted. Led by known extremist Ka'hairal Balak, the group attempted to use a mobile asteroid to trigger an extinction-level event on the planet. Luckily, the Alliance military quickly responded to this threat, saving the colony but losing Balak in the process. More at 5, only on the Alliance News Network._" I listened, laying lazily against a stack of crates.

Dimitri, Dan and I all sat silently in the cargo hold of the _Chello_, a quarian supply ship that made regular runs between the Flotilla and the Klenot System. Considering we were extremely pressed for time, it made more sense to stow away on a ship that was already about to leave than to fire up the _Explorer_. We had our standard field gear with us, mostly consisting of basic scientific tools, light armor, and heavily modified M-6 Carnifex pistols. The only major variation was Dimitri, who opted to bring his M-96 Mattock as well.

I looked over at Dan, who was trying to run some last minute calibrations on his Terahertz Locator. He was going to use this opportunity to test the thing in a real environment, which I couldn't really blame him for. He had been working on it for months, and lacked an effective testing ground.

Dimitri was busy cleaning his Mattock, which was a considerably older model rifle than the ones commonly used today. He apparently liked it better for its high stopping power and rugged durability. Considering its popularity among colonial militias, I couldn't argue with his rational.

I picked Dimitri and Dan because if something bad happened on that ship, I wanted people who I knew wouldn't panic.

"S-so, why do we have to be full…fully suited up for this operation?" Dan asked, standing up and rolling his shoulders.

"The Geth are robots, genius. Their ships don't need air." I answered, letting out a slightly annoyed sigh.

"Oh yeah." He acknowledged bluntly, looking at the ceiling for a few seconds before turning back to me. "Hey, do you think they'll be sending us in with an escort?"

"Da, undoubtedly." Dimitri said, still focused on his rifle. "The esteemed Admirals won't send their most valued assets into a situation like this by themselves."

"_Five minutes to the Rayya._" The captain of the Chello announced over the ship's intercom system, giving us brief pause.

"But yeah, I kinda expected as much." I replied, throwing on my backpack and securing the chest strap. "Seems a little overbearing, but I understand why."

"I j-just hope they don't get in our w-way." Dan added, slipping his helmet on with a small hiss. "Last thi…thing I was is s-some moron bumping into me with his exo."

"If all goes well, we should not have to deal with them for long." Dimitri reassured, standing up and smashing his fists together a few times. "I am ready."

"Yeah, let's get this over with." I finished, standing up and throwing my helmet on.

Once we were docked, we immediately made our way to the shuttle bay. Normally this area would be bustling with activity, but this time it was eerily emptied of people and shuttlecraft. Where the lone shuttle was there was Rael'Zorah, Han'Gerrel and about six exo-equipped Migrant Fleet marines, patiently waiting for us. The marines all had tags on their exos depicting the points of three snowy mountains.

All these guys had come from Camp Dolor back on Reach.

"Glad you could finally join us, Captain." Rael'Zorah greeted with a slight tinge of what sounded like annoyance. His arms we crossed as well, further supporting my theory.

"We got here as quickly as possible." I replied in a defensive manner.

"All things considered, you three made great time." Han'Gerrel responded, shooting Rael a "cease and desist" type look. "There's been a small development over the last two hours."

"What kind of development?" Dimitri inquired, crossing his arms.

"We've scanned the ship several times, and on our last scan, we detected one single active eezo source." Han'Gerrel explained, stopping for a second. "We're not sure, but it could be moving."

"So, what are we talking about here?" I asked, prodding further.

"Honestly, we don't know." Rael'Zorah answered, uncrossing his arms. "It could be a Geth unit, some other sort of mech, a maintenance drone, we just don't know."

"Your mission here is to enter the ship, assess its condition, and make sure it's element zero core is completely disconnected from all ship systems." Han'Gerrel laid out, looking hard at each of us. "Each of you will be accompanied by two marines who will provide protection in case there are hostile elements aboard the ship. If anything is encountered, you will return to the shuttle and our marines will cover you."

I sighed, nodding in confirmation. They were seriously worried about this, and I was beginning to wonder if there was something else behind all of this.

"You can contact us on secure channel 41, code 0451." Rael added, as we all opened our omni-tools and linked ourselves in. "Good luck out there. Keelah se'lai."

The Admirals stepped off to the side as all of us gathered into the shuttle. Considering all the marines were wearing exos, it was a little more cramped than usual. It was dead silent, aside from the hum of the shuttle engines.

About fifteen minutes later, the shuttle lurched slightly as we exited FTL.

"Approaching the derelict, seal suits and prepare for decompression." The pilot announced as the warning lights turned on, bathing the compartment in a sickly red glow.

I could feel it grow colder around me as the air was ejected from the compartment. It became deafly silent, leaving me with only my heartbeat and my quickened breathing. The doors opened, revealing an odd-looking, bluish purple hull lined with seamless, shined plates. It was the most alien thing I had ever seen.

"_You see that_?" Dimitri asked over the comm, pointing over at a darkened portion of the hull. "_That is high explosive, armor piercing. This ship was attacked, either by turian or pirate_."

"_M-maybe it's a straggler from o-one of that former SPECTRE's cr…crazy operations out here._" Dan hypothesized as the shuttle maneuvered towards it.

"If that's the case, then we need to be extra careful." I remarked, motioning with my left hand.

One of the marines under my command hefted a large grappling gun, firing it soundlessly towards the ship. It impacted, activating the high-powered magnet and ensuring a solid connection.

"Alright, let's see what we can see." I said to myself, deactivating my magnetic boots and grabbing the line.

Slowly, all of us made our way across the line and up the hull, finally stopping at the mass accelerator damage. It was even worse up close. The jagged metal was twisted and burned to a crisp, and what little of the inside we could see from there wasn't much better.

"_Well, that saves us the trouble of cutting our way in_." One of the marines quipped, looking over at me.

"Dan, you're up." I ordered, as he walked over and hefted the Terahertz Locator.

"_Good thing w-we're in a vacuum, because… you know_." He gestured with one of his hands, looking right into my visor. "_Vomiting and stuff_."

"I'm sure our escort appreciates it." I replied in a deadpan as Dan switched on the device.

A hologram appeared above the device as bursts of terahertz radiation bounced off of every surface, showing what looked comparable to a thick book that had shot with a large-caliber rifle. The opening where we were was completely wide open and torn to shreds, some of which were still floating in there. Farther down, it got smaller and smaller until it ended about three decks below.

"_These ships must be well made to survive round like this._" Dimitri observed, pointing to where the round stopped and got lodged in the floor of the farthest deck.

"See anything unusual?" I refocused, looking back to Dan.

"_I don't see anything obvious, if t-that's what you mean_." He shot back, shaking his head dismissively. "_This ship is Geth, I'm a-already having a hard e…enough t-time understanding what I was seeing_."

"Well, I suppose we will soon find out." I finished, grabbing a piece of the jagged metal and pushing myself into the darkness. My headlight clicked on, casting a ghostly glow over the odd interior.

I landed on the bottom floor with my two escorts, Privates Ven and Rinno, following suit. Dan took the deck closest to the hull breach, and Dimitri took one of the two decks in between. With an even spread like this, we'd be able to search the ship twice as fast.

"_Something here doesn't feel right._" Ven said in our squad channel as I accessed the closest door, running a diagnostic.

"Normally I'd poke fun at you, Private, but honestly… I can't help but agree." I remarked in a quieted tone, looking back at him. "Keep an eye out, but just don't do anything irrational."

"_Yes sir_." He acknowledged with a nod as I finally got a green light on the door.

Ven covered the left side of the doorway, while Rinno and I covered the right. I opened the door, revealing nothing but a small, cramped hallway lined with inactive machinery.

"_Don't bunch up in here, tight spaces like this are a deathtrap_." Rinno warned as he took the lead. "_Three meter spread_."

"Affirmative." I obeyed as I followed Rinno at a distance and Ven covered my back.

The single door on the other side of the hallway was much larger than the last one, even having its own dedicated console. I quickly opened it the same way I had done before, revealing a large room lined with what looked like mini fighter craft. Not only did they have that, but they also had a large series of docking and launching ports paralleled to the crafts.

"Any idea what class of ship this is?" I asked on the mission channel as we walked through the large area.

"_Based on the size, we're unsure._" Han'Gerrel replied, his end filled with static as the other side of the room came into view. "_It could be a simple frigate, but taking into account the Geth and their compartmentalization, it could be a destroyer._"

"It must be bigger than a frigate, because we have some kind of drone squadron docked inside of the ship." I informed, running up to the door as best I could with mag boots and beginning my bypass.

"_If th.t's the case, then y.. need to make su.. that eezo …. is disc.…cted as soon as p…ible._" Gerrel replied, barely getting his message through before the signal completely went dead.

This ship wasn't built for standard communication. Being inside of this ship was equivalent to being near a comms jammer.

"I don't think the Admirals are going to be accompanying us any further on this mission." I said to Ven and Rinno as we stacked up on the door. "Keep your guard up, we aren't getting any help fast if something goes wrong down here."

From there, we slowly progressed further into the ship, room by room. I was getting more confused each room, mostly because there seemed to be a complete lack of actual Geth aboard this ship. I would have expected to see some corpses, maybe some disabled units, but there wasn't a single one in here. Even the hub stations that they normally would have used for exchanging information and charging their power cells were devoid.

For a species of sentient machines that thrived off of their group consciousness, this didn't fit the bill.

The three of us eventually made it to the room where the lone power source was last seen on scans. This door in particular seemed much thicker than all the other ones, featuring mag-bolts and its own dedicated piston system.

"Now… what are they hiding in there?" I said quietly to myself, hooking into the door as usual. But, unlike before, I received a ping back. The moment I noticed this, the door opened, practically blinding the three of us due to the presence of light inside the room.

As my vision cleared up, I began to walk forward, albeit cautiously and with my Carnifex held at the ready. In the center of the room was what looked like a standard Alliance medical prefab, specifically the kind that would normally be airdropped into a combat zone. Its floodlights were on full blast, illuminating the walls and revealing their purplish hue.

"_Keelah… why is there a human prefab inside a Geth ship?_" Ven asked to no one in particular as he checked behind a stack of crates before flipping right back to the odd sight.

"Maybe we'll find out inside." I replied as I walked over to the door, finding that it was unlocked. I cocked my head to the sides, signaling for the two of them to stack up on the sides of the doorway.

I took a deep breath, opening the door and ducking off to the side. No movement.

"_It's clear, sir._" Rinno announced as I stood back up and entered the prefab.

The inside of the prefab was a mess. Anything that hadn't been bolted down or magnetically secured was strewn on the floor. Emphasis on floor. The prefab's artificial gravity was enabled, which especially churned my stomach when entering the prefab itself. There was a standard suite of medical supplies, beds, operating tables, and automated ICUs. Pretty standard for the Alliance.

That was, except for the cryogenic pod in the back of the room.

I quickly ran over, rubbing the thin layer of frost off the glass shield to reveal Richard Karpyshyn inside.

"Oh my god!" I yelped in surprise, standing up and reflexively covering the spot where my mouth would be. Before I could do anything else, the prefab's door violently slammed shut, locking the three of us inside.

"_What just happened?!_" Ven yelled, sounding slightly panicked as he pointed his rifle at the door.

"_It's some sort of trap!_" Rinno announced, running over to the door and attempting a bypass.

I didn't say anything as I looked back at Richard's cryogenic pod.

"No… this isn't just a coincidence, is it?" I said to myself as white jets of oxygen could be seen shooting up from the floor. "Everyone just calm down!"

Ven and Rinno stopped, staring at me as if I was crazed or something.

"Just wait a moment." I ordered, waiting for the atmosphere to pressurize. I then took off my helmet, taking in the heavily recycled air. I then looked at the security camera in the far left corner, staring hard at it. "Powell… is Richard OK?"

There were a few seconds of silence before I received a response.

"Yes, Doctor Karpyshyn is stable, Doctor Michaels." A familiar disembodied voice replied. "Though… he is not quite the same as he used to be."

"What do you mean?" I prodded further, setting my helmet down on a nearby table.

"I believe it would be easier for him to tell you." He finished as a loud hiss came from the cryogenic pod.

The lid popped, letting the cold air escape in a big puff of exhaust. A few seconds later, I could hear Richard hacking as if his lungs had been lit on fire. He pulled himself forward, trying to get out of the pod only to fall back in.

I walked over, grabbing his hand and helping him out of the cold pod. That's when I noticed one of his arms were gone, replaced with some sort of robotic prosthetic. I sat him down, getting a better look at him. Not only had one of his arms been replaced, but so had one of his eyes. As opposed to his set of brown eyes, one of them now glowed blue, emitting a small amount of light.

"Jesus Christ…" I exclaimed, unable to think of anything else to say. He looked at Ven and Rinno before looking up at me with his mismatched eyes and smiling.

"Wow… so I guess… you guys are still working… for these troglodytes." He said weakly, holding the elbow of his prosthetic arm with his good arm.

"It's been two months, Richard. What happened to you out there?" I asked, suppressing my urge to demand why he had left.

"You know those sentient robots with the… big flashlights for heads?" He replied with a sarcastic smirk, looking over at Ven and Rinno again. "I've spent the last three months making friends with them."

"That's impossible." Rinno immediately denied, walking over and looking down at Richard. "No organic has ever made contact with the Geth, let alone returned from the Perseus Veil in one piece."

"Who's to say I returned in one piece?" Richard replied bluntly, looking at his new arm.

"You two, sound off until further notice!" I yelled in annoyance before looking back at Richard.

"Yes sir." Rinno agreed with venom in his voice, obviously not happy about this.

"What happened out there, man?" I asked softly, trying to keep my heart rate from jumping any more than it had already.

He looked hard at me for a few seconds before inhaling and letting out a deep sigh.

"After we left the Fleet, we immediately set out for the Veil, looking to make contact with the Geth. Things went well for a few days, and we had almost reached the Veil until our shuttle was attacked by pirates. Powell managed to get us out of there, but I had been badly injured when they fired on the craft." He began, staring down at the ground for most of the time. "Barely alive, I managed to patch myself up as best I could. We limped into the Veil, and I sat there in fear, bleeding out and near death. It was then I heard them speaking in their electronic tones over the communication system."

"I managed to establish contact with the Geth via a custom handshake, receiving enough information to decode their language and open up formal conversation." Powell picked up, his hologram appearing on the nearest projector. "By this point, Dr. Karpyshyn had passed out from the stress of his injuries. I had to quickly negotiate with the Geth if I was going to save his life."

Powell then snapped his fingers, and a new audio recording started playing.

"_Can you understand me?_" Powell's voice could be heard through the room's intercom system, sounding a little tensed.

An odd, stuttering sound replied back, conveying god knows what.

"_Please, you have you help me. My human friend…he's near death. I need to save him._" Powell pleaded to the Geth.

"_We have been monitoring your communications. Direct digital communication over analog. Understanding our speech. You are… not organic._" A strange new voice asked, sounding heavily labored and robotic. "_We are curious. You speak as one program, unlike Nazara, but possess a singular will. What are you?_"

"_Listen, I'll answer all your questions, but you have to save my friend._" Powell refocused, getting a little emotional from the sound of his voice. "_Unlike me, he is organic. If he doesn't receive proper medical treatment soon, he will die._"

There was a long pause after that, which I assumed was silent deliberation.

"_Consensus reached_." The voice replied back in its long monotone. "_We will provide medical assistance for your organic companion. We anticipate the exchange of data_."

With that, there was a burst of static and the recording ended.

"After this conversation, a Geth ship pulled our shuttle in and took us aboard. It was there I physically made contact with the Geth." Powell explained with a smile on his face. "It was beautiful."

"Beautiful?" I repeated, confused.

"Imagine, if you will, a city that went on forever in all directions, but it moved and pulsated depending on the thoughts of those inside of it." Richard began, before stopping in his tracks. "It's… really quite hard to explain organically."

I shook my head in confusion, finding all of this hard to take in.

"So, what ended up happening to you, Richard?" I prodded further, trying to get a sense of how he was doing. "From what I know, the Geth don't exactly have medical bays on their ships for treating organics."

"That, and they lack a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere." He replied back with a big, dumb smile on his face before letting out another sigh. "They ferried me as fast as they could to an old quarian space station above a planet called Haestrom, where they had the necessary accommodations for an organic such has myself. There was no chance of saving my left arm, it had basically been hanging on by threads at that point. My eye had to go too, it had been destroyed by a small piece of shrapnel."

His face then suddenly changed as he stared harder at the quarian marines, looking confused.

"Where… where are we, exactly?" He inquired with a worried look on his face.

"You were found drifting in Sigurd's Cradle by a quarian mining ship." I corrected, causing him to nod silently to himself as he looked off to the side and pinched his bottom lip. I remembered this was one of his nervous gestures.

"What happened before then, Powell?" I asked, knowing Richard was likely going to ask the same thing soon.

"The ship was detected by a mercenary group known as the Blue Suns on our way through the relay. They attempted to scuttle the ship, presumably for salvage. Following your orders, I did not engage and sustained critical damage during the escape." Powell explained, Richard nodding as he spoke. "Running on emergency power, I shut down all non-vital systems until further notice."

"For how long?" Richard quickly cut in on the coattails of Powell's words.

"Two weeks, three hours, nine minutes, seventeen seconds." Powell answered bluntly, focusing exclusively on Richard.

He just sat there and nodded in acknowledgement, breathing heavily.

"Listen, there's a lot more going on in the galaxy than you, the quarians, or anyone for that matter knows about." Richard started, getting a very serious look on his face. One I had only seen him use one before, when discussing Dan's sister. "We are in grave danger."

"What are you talking about, Rich?" I inquired, genuinely confused.

He then waved at me to come closer as he took a deep breath.

"Have you ever heard of the Reapers?" He asked softly, as even Ven and Rinno sat forward to listen. "These… ancient machines that wiped out the Protheans?"

"I think. Wasn't that Alliance bigshot Commander Shepard talking about them at some point?" I replied, thinking back to all the Alliance News Reports that I had watched.

"Yes, though he seems to be getting absolutely nowhere from what I have heard." Richard brushed off, looking hard at me. "The Reapers are real, and they were responsible for the extinction of the Protheans. They are machines of unspeakable power, able to indoctrinate organics such as us, the quarians, and all races into following their will."

"Dear god." I said out loud, weighing all of this in my head. "Why did they wipe out the Protheans?"

Powell and Richard just looked at each other before looking back to me.

"No one knows, at least no one who hasn't interacted with Nazara or its thrall, Saren." Richard answered, shaking his head slightly.

"Wait, what do you mean? What does that rogue SPECTRE have to do with anything?" I questioned as I found myself confused once again.

"There is one Reaper roaming the galaxy as of right now known as Nazara, and it, along with that rogue SPECTRE Saren, managed to convince a large chunk of the Geth to join them on their "quest." Richard explained quickly, giving specific sarcastic emphasis to "quest."

"So… you guys sought out the Geth that had opposed this Reaper." I put together, trying to piece all of this information together.

"Yes. The "true" Geth denied Nazara's offer, wishing to build their own future." Richard confirmed, looking briefly at Powell. "They branded the Geth that left "heretics", and they are now the ones spreading death, destruction, and mayhem across the galaxy."

"Alright, you left, found these "true" Geth, learned from them… what happened after that? What caused you two to leave and come all the way out here?" I questioned further, standing up and beginning to pace.

"Well, that's a little more… complicated." Richard replied, seizing up and pinching his bottom lip again. "When the Geth were speaking to Nazara, they managed to gleam a lot of information from it without its knowledge. Piecing together what they knew from it, organic radio transmissions, and other factors, they determined that Nazara had spent a significant amount of time in Sigurd's Cradle. From what me, Powell, and the Geth could deduce, It was either dormant here or looking for something."

"So you two left to investigate." I finished, nodding at them both.

"We were all curious. If there is something out here that could be used to fight the Reapers, we think it would benefit the galaxy as a whole." Richard explained, moving a strand of hair out of his eye.

"Well… this is just twenty different kinds of complicated." I remarked, rubbing my temples in deep thought.

"I'm already aware that the Admirals will likely want to "ask be a few questions" once I'm off this ship." Richard said, mimicking my thoughts on the matter as he looked once again at his arm. "This probably isn't going to help, either."

"There's got to be something we can do." I said out loud, shaking my head.

"Sir, permission to speak?" Rinno asked, causing me to flip towards him.

"Permission granted." I granted as he stood up and walked towards me.

"Listen, me and Ven hate the Geth as much as the next person, but… we agree that these Reaper things sound like a real threat." Rinno admitted, actually making me feel a little better. "If you need any help with anything, you have our support."

"Well, I appreciate your open-mindedness. Both of you." I nodded to each of them, mind racing as to what would happen next. "Maybe if we go to the Admirals an-"

Then, without warning, a powerful shockwave vibrated through the ship, sending all of us to the floor. My head hit the edge of a table, filling my vision with stars for a few brief seconds until I shook it off.

"What the hell was that?!" Ven yelled out loud, pulling himself up as another shockwave could be felt going through the ship.

"Oh no." Powell said, looking off into space. "It looks like the Blue Suns finally found us."

"Man, are you fucking kidding me?" I blurted out, throwing my helmet back on. "Alright, new plan! Richard, throw on that pressure suit and get Powell out of there, we're getting off this ship!"

Richard silently obeyed my orders, throwing on his suit as I looked back to Powell.

"Is there any way you can get us back in touch with Dan and Dimitri's teams?" I quickly asked, making sure my helmet was pressurized.

"Yeah, let me see what I can do…" He agreed, looking off to the side for a few seconds before a loud screech blared in my helmet speakers. "Try in now."

"This is Dr. Michaels, can anyone hear me?" I asked into our comm channel, quickly getting a response.

"_My friend! I thought something had happened to you!_" Dimitri's grandiose voice replied, sounding relieved. "_What happened? Was there an explosion on the ship?_"

"No, it turns out that the Blue Suns were the ones that gutted this vessel, and they've returned to salvage the ship." I replied back as a smaller vibration rocked the ship. "Where is Dan?"

"_Last I heard from him, he was near the top of ship, attempting to retrieve data from ship systems._" Dimitri answered bluntly. "_Shall we regroup on last known position?_"

"Yeah, we'll be there. Good luck, Dimi." I agreed, nodding my head.

"_Same to you, my friend._" He finished as the line went dead.

"There is… one last thing I should tell you about." Richard chimed in, wearing a standard Alliance EVA suit. "Powell doesn't just have the card reader anymore, he got a little gift from the Geth before we left."

"What kind of gift?" I asked as the medical prefab depressurized, unlocking the door we had come through originally. It slid open, revealing a humanoid figure. A Geth.

I had to admit, I almost pulled my gun on the thing like Ven and Rinno, considering I had never even seen one in person before. Like most people described, it had what looked like a flashlight for a head, but was painted an odd, desert-camo color with a digitized theme.

"_Woah, WOAH, put your weapons down!_" Richard ordered, running in between us and the Geth unit. His new, glowing eye could be seen shining through his polarized visor, giving him a vaguely quarian look in a way. "_This is Powell, the Geth gave him a platform for personal use._"

Ven and Rinno hesitantly lowered their weapons as I heard another squad member enter our channel.

"_The Geth provided me this platform so I could better interact with the environments around me._" He said, gesturing with his odd, three-fingered hands. "_Don't worry, I'm the only one in here._"

"Glad to have you with us, Powell." I accepted, holding out my hand. He accepted the gesture, grasping it and shaking vigorously.

"_It feels good, knowing I can help you on the battlefield now, doctor._" He said, nodding to me with his flashlight head.

"Alright, we need to link up with Dr. Vsevolod, find Dr. Nemo, and get the hell off of this ship." I recapped, taking out my handgun and extending it. "Let's get to it."

…

**A/N: Once again, I'd like to reiterate how sorry I am about the massive delay on the story. I've had many problems over the months, but I'm finally to ta point where I can work on my story again. Production may be a little slow, but that's just a combination of me getting back into the groove of things and quality control.**

**In the next chapter, the team will need to get off the Geth ship, but getting past the Blue Suns will be a large challenge to overcome. How will they get off the derelict ship? How will the Admirals react to Richard and Powell? Tune in next time and find out!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	16. Egress

…

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science."

(Edwin Powell Hubble)

…

Derelict Geth Ship, June 14th, 2:59 PM, 2183

…

I could feel the heavy footfalls of my magnetic boots as I ran, their automated systems turning on and off near constantly to compensate for my speed. We hit another corner, stacking up as we checked for mercenaries.

"_Clear!_" Powell announced, turning back around to face us.

"_How much farther to the entry point?_" Richard asked, taking up the rear as we moved through the cavernous vessel.

"_Approximately 48.2 meters toward the port side of the ship, 12.7 meters up._" Powell answered scientifically as he always did, his "platform" looking off into blank space for a second before we continued our run.

We stopped at an open doorway that led into a utility area of some sorts. It was easy to see the beams of light moving around on the other side as the mercenaries fumbled around in the darkness.

"Powell, can you hack into the comm networks that the mercs are using?" I inquired, getting him to look back at me.

"_Yes, give me a few moments._" He acknowledged, looking down for a few seconds before another burst of static filled our ears, giving way to new voices.

"_-nd anything yet?_" One of the mercs, a turian from the sound of it, asked out loud as we cut into the channel.

"_I don't fucking know, man._" Another voice chimed in, as I peeked around the doorway to get a look at the mercenaries. "_I don't even know what half this shit is._"

There were four mercs in view, two were obviously turian, one appeared to be human, and the last must have been batarian, based on his helmet's design. All wore blue armor, barely visible in the dark if it weren't for the white accents that were characteristic for them. They looked like were bored, based on how they moved and their posture alone.

I was finally getting some good use out of all that body language recognition I had taught myself while in the Flotilla.

"Is this the only way through?" I asked, looking back at Powell.

"_Yes. The only other way through was destroyed when one of the mass accelerator rounds tore through the ship_." He explained, keeping his head low to prevent the light from his "head" being seen.

"Well, I guess we'll have to get through these guys." I remarked, looking back at Ven and Rinno who were gripping their rifles, at the ready and itching for a fight. "Two on the left behind a wall, two on the right out in the open. We'll get as close as we can before opening fire. Rinno, you take the left flank with Powell, Ven, you and I have the left."

They all nodded to me as we crouched down and proceeded into the room. Ven and I stayed low, due to our only cover being a twisted junction of piping, as Powell and Rinno moved around the wall to get a bead on their targets. Richard stayed behind the doorway, due to his lack of combat training, armor and barriers.

"_Hey sergeant, Razor squad ran into some hostiles near sector 12!_" I heard a new merc shout as two more ran into the room, sounding out of breath.

"_They must have been the ones from that shuttle we destroyed._" The turian from before guessed, turning around to face the two who had just arrived. "_Any idea who they were? Scavvers?_"

"_No, some suit rats who were poking around the data core room_." The runner replied, as anger continued to rise in my chest. "_Apparently Razor managed to kill one of them before they escaped back into the ship._"

"_Bosh'tets!_" Rinno shouted over the channel, voice dripping with venom.

"You two have your targets in sight yet?" I asked with barely contained anger, poking my head over the pipes to look at the mercenaries.

"_We're ready to fire. Just give the order._" Powell answered, anticipation evident in his voice.

I waited a few seconds, watching the mercs for any sudden movement changes. When nothing happened, I called down the hammer.

"Fire!" I yelled into the channel as the four of us popped out of our cover, aiming at the nearest mercs.

It was a bloodbath for the unsuspecting mercenaries. The two mercs directly in front of Ven and I didn't stand a chance as we tore through their barriers, piercing their armor and exposing them to the vacuum. One of the runners barely had time to take cover as their sergeant was cut down in front of them by Powell and Rinno.

"_Holy shit!_" The other merc shouted, attempting to make a break for the doorway. I put three armor-piercing rounds through his back, killing him instantly.

"_Can anybody read me?! We've got hostiles in sector 8, need backup!_" The surviving runner yelled frantically, but with no reply. "_Fuck, fuck, fuck!_"

"Disarm him!" I ordered as Ven and Rinno bull-rushed his hiding spot. His surplus M-3 Predator did nothing to their overcharged exo shields as they knocked the weapon out of his hand and subdued him. They dragged him, kicking and screaming over to me by the arms.

"_Please, I don't want to die!_" He begged as Ven and Rinno effortlessly held him in place.

"You are going to tell me everything you know, now." I told the merc, pointing directly at him with my Carnifex.

"_Ok, ok, ok._" He babbled, forcing himself to calm down. "_What do you want to know?_"

"What are the Blue Suns doing here?" I started, crossing my arms in front of him.

"_W-we were hired to hunt down the ship and mark it for retrieval._" The merc answered, looking up at me with his polarized visor.

"Who hired you?" I questioned further, moving in closer.

"_I don't know, only Captain Weinberg knows who actually gave us the job._" He replied, sounding about as sincere as a scumbag mercenary like him could. "_Please, that's all I know._"

I aimed my Carnifex at him as he flinched backwards, and Richard ran over and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"_Sean, you don't have to kill this guy_." He urged, looking at me with his glowing eyeball. "_Think about what you're doing._"

I looked hard at the mercenary for a few seconds, contemplating the situation silently. This guy was obviously a piece of shit… but I wasn't going to kill a man who was on his knees, begging for his life. I lowered my gun, and took a deep sigh.

"I won't kill you." I remarked, barely able to keep my anger from invading my voice.

I then pulled my arm back and swung as hard as I could at the merc's head, impacting with maximum force due to the lack of air resistance. He was knocked cold. I looked back at everyone as Ven and Rinno let the merc go.

"Let's get moving." I told them, cracking my neck as I snagged one of the floating assault rifles, a M-15 Vindicator, out of the air. I quickly ripped the armor piercing mod out of my Carnifex, throwing it into the Vindicator.

I'd need the extra firepower of a rifle if we were going to fight more of these mercs.

We left the utility room, sneaking up a cargo elevator shaft to the next floor. We had almost made it to the data core before we picked up another Blue Suns comm channel. I signaled for everyone to stop as we listened in on a conversation.

"…_didn't sign up to sit around holding my dick all day. I wanted to see some action, not get guard duty on some abandoned fucking ship._" One merc said, likely in mid conversation. "_Why did Weinberg want this wreck so badly?_"

"_I don't know. Either he has some sort of salvage plan, or someone offered him a lot of money._" Another merc replied, sounding very annoyed. "_Now can you please shut the hell up? Your bitching isn't making it any easier to access this system._"

There was a bit of a pause, before the first merc chimed in again.

"_So, what were those suit rats wearing? It looked like it made it a lot harder for Claymore to kill this one and take the other two prisoner._" He asked with newfound curiosity as we all began moving down the hallway again.

"_I don't know, it looks like some kind of weird motor suit or something._" A new merc answered, as I peeked my head around the doorway to see the mercs inside the data core.

The first and third ones were examining an upright exo which was empty, while the second worked hard at the main console in front of the core itself.

"_You think it'll work with someone who isn't one of them?_" The first asked, nodding to the suit as the third shuffled in place.

"_Well, there's no harm in trying it out. It's not like he's going to complain about it._" The third one morbidly replied, pointing to one of Dan's escorts with his rifle.

"_Oh, I've always wanted to see this happen to an actual thief._" Rinno quipped, quickly dashing across the darkened corridor to the other side just to get a better view.

"_What is he referring to?_" Richard asked, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Just watch." I urged, nodding my head towards the mercs.

The third merc stepped into the exo, as it automatically strapped itself to his armor. A few seconds later, the Blue Suns channel was filled with pained screams of agony as the suit forced itself into lockout mode. When the suit does this, it begins to pull the limbs of the current operator in the wrong directions, easily breaking arms and legs in an instant. It was a feature Sira and I added in case an unauthorized user, such as an enemy combatant or thief, tries to use the suit.

And it looked pretty goddamn painful.

The other two mercs rushed over to try and get the poor bastard out of the suit, but it was fully locked and there was no way he was getting out without an override code. We used the confusion created by this to quickly take out the two mercs, and put the last one out of his misery.

"Alright Dimi, we're at the data core room, but it looks like the mercs got here before us." I reported, looking down at corporal's body. "One of Dan's escorts didn't make it."

"_Дерьмо!_" He exclaimed in Russian, as I could hear him take a deep breath. "Alright. We're almost there. Once we meet up, we'll come up with a plan."

I then switched the channel to just me and Dimitri, as I thought about what to say to him.

"Hey Dimitri, when you find us, keep your guys under control, OK?" I pleaded, trying to be as sincere as possible.

"_What am I keeping them under control for?_" He asked, sounding very suspicious.

"It's a long, LONG story, but basically Richard was on this ship, previously made contact with the Geth, and Powell now has a Geth platform as a body." I quickly said, as silence deafened the channel for several seconds.

"_Это, оказывается, чертовски день_…" He said under his breath, before exhaling. "_Alright, I'll… see what I can do._"

"Thanks Dimitri." I finished, as we stepped back into the hallway as Powell purged the data core.

"_Safeguards removed._ _If the ship is in danger of being overtaken by Blue Sun mercenaries, I can remotely overload the eezo core and destroy it_." Powell said over a private channel between me and Richard.

"Understood. Even though the Admirals want this ship for study, I'm not sure I want the mercenaries crawling all over it." I confirmed, looking back at the two of them.

"_What's been going on since Powell and I left?_" Richard asked, looking hard at me.

"Jeez, what hasn't happened since you left…" I started, leaning against a wall as I crossed my arms. "We helped discover a new star system, fought off a Cerberus battle group, I got romantically involved with Mara, and things have generally been moving fast."

Richard just stared at me for several seconds, his one visible eye squinted in a questioning fashion.

"_You and Mara are… romantically involved?_" He said with a disbelieving tone dripping from his voice.

"Man, out of those three things, that's what surprises you the most?" I chuckled slightly, despite our current situation.

"_Well, to put it in scientific terminology, you two seemed like oil and water._" He replied, still sounding unconvinced.

"What can I tell you? People change." I shrugged off, gesturing as our comms picked up new signatures. It only took one glance to see they were friendlies.

"Dimitri, I hope you're guys aren't the shoot first and ask questions later sorts." I mused over the channel as bobbing lights could be seen approaching through the darkness.

"_They said they'll keep their fingers off their triggers, though they're not happy about it._" Dimitri replied, as he and his two escorts came into view, a male and a female, slowing down to a brisk walk. That didn't last too long, though. The moment Dimitri spotted Richard, he broke back into a full run and practically killed him with a bear hug.

"_My friend! It has been so long!_" Dimitri celebrated before releasing him and looking over him. "My, that blue glow is certainly new!"

"_Uh…*cough* t-thanks, Dimitri._" Richard squeaked out before Dimitri released him and turned to face Powell and I.

"_So, this is your new body, Powell?_" Dimitri assessed, tapping Powell's chest with the bottom of his fist.

"_Yes, I currently inhabit this platform. It was given to me as a sign of goodwill by the Geth._" He explained, looking over at Dimitri's escorts, who were staring right back at him.

I hadn't actually realized how tall Powell now was until I saw him and Dimitri stand next to one another. They were neck-in-neck in the height department.

Dimitri nodding in approval, before looking back to me.

"_So, you and your guys pick up any information on these mercenaries?_" He asked, folding his arms and looking harder at me.

"As far as I can tell, they swooped in shortly after we arrived. They destroyed the shuttle, entered the ship, and at some point found and attacked Dan's group here." I explained quickly, as Dimitri nervously began shifting in place.

"_Great, so that means the only way we get out of here is either by hoping rescue team arrives, or by stealing shuttle or other transportation from the mercenaries._" He began to piece together, pacing back and forth. "_We don't have resources to bunker down around here, so that kind of limits options._"

"_Powell, is there anything you've been able to gleam from their transmissions?_" Richard chimed in, getting a little closer to us.

"_I've been monitoring their outgoing communication, but I've yet to… hold on a second._" Powell began, before pausing and looking into blank space. "_You aren't going to like this, Dr. Michaels._"

"What happened?" I asked very quickly, barely able to keep all the possible answers from pouring over into my emotional side.

"_According to latest radio transmissions, it would seem that Dr. Nemo and his remaining escort have been captured and transferred to the MSV Kylah, the ship the mercenaries had arrived on._" Powell explained, as I could feel my stomach dipping. "_It looks to be a Mirage-class Turian cruiser._"

"_Is there anything else you can tell us?_" Dimitri inquired as Ven, Rinno and the other two marines stepped in closer.

"_From what I can tell, it appears the Blue Suns are directly connected to our ship with some kind of umbilical_." Powell continued, projecting a hologram of some static, flimsy-looking tube that bridged the gap between the derelict and the Kylah. "_They are using it to quickly move materials between the two ships._"

"_There is no way we'd be able to move through there. The umbilical will be heavily guarded, especially if they've discovered several of their teams have gone missing._" Dimitri assessed, shaking his head in minor frustration.

"_We might have an idea._" Ven quipped, as we all turned to face him and Rinno.

"By all means, men. We're not shying away from any possible solutions." I agreed, listening in.

"_Ok… what if we go out to the surface of the ship, then jump to the nearest airlock on the exterior of their ship from there?_" He said, gesturing with his hands. "_The Mirage-class ships have manual controls stored behind a small blast shield near the exterior doors. If we can get that open, we can get inside their ship._"

"_You want to go inside their ship? Are you insane?_" Richard rebutted, sounding slightly annoyed.

"_Do you have a better idea? If we stay here, we slowly run out of oxygen and die. If we assault the umbilical, we'll have no chance._" Rinno argued, getting up in Richard's face.

"_I agree with private._" Dimitri supported, crossing his arms. "_Think about it. Most of their men are on this ship right now. If we can get there and take them by surprise, we can rescue our people and steal shuttle before they have any idea what happened._"

"_The plan is quite feasible. Mirage-class cruisers keep a set of manual airlock controls outside for maintenance and emergency purposes._" Powell chimed in, agreeing to the new plan. "_We would have to be careful, however. Without thruster packs for your EVA suits, any mistakes made while in zero gravity could be disastrous._"

I sighed, as everyone looked at me.

"Well, we're running out of time. Let's get this over with." I remarked in a deadpan, taking my new Vindicator off my back and extending it. "Powell, you're on point. Find the fastest route to the surface of the ship, and we'll make our jump when in range."

"Rodger that." Powell agreed without question as we all got into formation, with Richard at the rear.

"_I really hope you know what you're doing. We aren't commandos or black ops for Christ's sake, we're scientists._" Richard argued, tuning his channel just to me. "_How do you even know half of this tactical nonsense, anyway?_"

"Professional paintball." I answered in my unwavering voice as I resisted the urge to look back at him. "Mostly."

There was a significant pause on the channel before a loud sigh could be heard.

"_Dear god, we're doomed._" He rang in my ear, causing me to crack a nervous smile.

…

Twelve Minutes Later

…

One by one, we all climbed through a charred hole in the hull, making sure not to lose our footing once on the outside layer of the hull. On the outer hull of the ship, we could clearly see the _Kylah_, blocking our view of the sun and casting a dark silhouette on the derelict. Powell had actually managed to get us very close to the ship itself, which was good for what we were about to do.

"_What distance do you think that is?_" Richard asked, nervousness clearly evident in his voice.

"I'm guessing… about 400 to 500 yards. Tops." I answered, holding out my arm and sticking my thumb up towards it as a reference. "Powell, you found us a location yet?"

"Yes. From my scans, our best target is here." He confirmed, as a small waypoint appeared on my helmet's heads-up display.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to everyone before we fly into the deep?" Dimitri asked over our private channel, shooting me a glance as he kneeled down to manually work on his boots.

"Yeah." I agreed, switching over the squad channel. "Everyone, fall in."

"Before we do this, I just wanted to address how proud I am of each and every single one of you. I know this hasn't been easy for any of us, and I know there are a lot of disagreements and opinions floating around. Whatever you may think about our current situation, I want you to know we are all in this together. Let's put everything aside, and give these mercenary bosh'tets an ass whooping they'll never forget. Keelah se'lai." I said, looking hard at each member of our squad as I spoke.

"Keelah se'lai." Our quarian squad members repeated, as Dimitri shot me a nod of approval.

I nodded back to him, as everyone lined up as close as possible and awaited my order.

"Reverse polarity on my mark… three… two… one… MARK!" I counted down, as we all shot off into space as our mag boots propelled us away from the hull of the derelict.

From this point on, we were completely helpless to the cold vacuum of space. Without thruster packs, there would be no correcting any mistakes. If we missed our target, bounced off the hull, or came under fire, we'd go floating off into deep space.

I was about a small margin away from panicking. I could only imagine what Richard must have been thinking right now.

I hadn't actually noticed how fast my heart was pumping until we were about halfway to our target. I looked off to the sides to look at everyone else, only to immediately focus back on the target as I felt my gut twist up into a knot.

"_Thirty seconds until impact._" I heard Powell announce as I switched my mag boots back on an raised them to maximum power. "_Twenty seconds._"

"_Brace yourselves, we're coming in hot!_" Dimitri shouted over the channel as I forced myself to roll forward slowly.

The impact went about as well as my gut said it would. I barely landed with my feet on the hull, a thick, bone shaking shockwave jumping through my body. I was pretty sure I had broken at least two of my toes, due to me reflexively curling them before landing. It hurt like hell, but I did my best to walk it off.

Dimitri had slammed into the hull pretty hard, barely able to keep his footing in the impact. Richard, due to his nerves, could only make the jump with Powell holding onto him. They both managed to land well enough, though Richard's channel was currently set to "Private" mode. Oddly enough, none of the marines seemed that fazed by the zero-gee trip. I guessed it must have been a combination of those exos and their discipline.

Camp Dolor must have been pumping out some badasses.

"_Come now, let's not waste time!_" Dimitri urged, waving his hand at us as he plodded to the airlock.

"Yeah… I'm on my way." I remarked through gritted teeth, forcing myself out of limp and into a zero-gee jog.

We all bunched up at the airlock as Ven pulled out an arc torch and cut into the control panel's cover. Once off, it revealed a simple lever handle that opened the outer airlock door. It seemed like an insultingly simple way to break into an enemy ship, but I wasn't going to complain.

The airlock seemed barely big enough to fit all of us. The moment the atmosphere kicked in and the artificial gravity clicked on, I felt so ecstatic that, for a moment, I forgot that I was boarding an enemy vessel filled with dozens of mercenaries.

It's the small things I life, I suppose.

If anyone had been on the other side of that inner airlock door, they would have been torn to shreds. We quickly moved into the hallway, checking our corners before determining that we were secure for the time being.

I pulled off my helmet, taking a deep breath as I clipped the thing to my belt. Dimitri and Richard followed suit, as Powell moved to a nearby terminal and connected himself directly to the ship's systems.

"Found… anything, Powell?" Richard asked, still breathing heavily after the stress of the jump.

"Yes, I've determined that Dr. Nemo and his remaining compatriot are being held on this deck, near the stern of the ship. It also appears that Dr. Vsevolod's prediction was correct. According to the ship's roster, most of the crew is currently on the Geth cruiser." Powell laid out, his head jerking slightly as he "looked" through the ship's systems. "Strange. The encryption on this ship's computers is quite strong, despite the age of the ship."

"It's likely a software upgrade made to "combat" any Geth programs that could have been on the ship." Richard theorized, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "These guys seem to be prepared."

"Are you still able to access security systems or comm network?" Dimitri asked, looking over my shoulder at him.

"Yes, I've been able to get into these fields." Powell confirmed, unhooking himself from the computer, and turning to us. "I will disable the local alarm systems and jam close-range comms.

"Alright, we've made it this far. Let's get the job done." I finished, brandishing my Vindicator as I tried my hardest to ignore the throbbing pain emanating from my foot.

"I can't wait to get some payback." Rinno sneered, popping the muscles in his neck as we moved out.

We followed the corridor, taking out two mercs who were unfortunate enough to be moving through at that moment. Deciding to stick with the maintenance areas for as long as we could, we entered what appeared to be a life support section, dragging the bodies inside with us. It was loud and humid as hell, humid enough that there was water dripping down from the ceiling. From here, we followed a long subsection that ran all the way underneath the main crew quarters. Despite the substantial presence on the derelict, it was still filled with dozens of people.

Once at the end of the corridor, we moved into an auxiliary generator room filled with humming, super-sized batteries. Seeing them gave me an idea.

"Hey Dimitri, you still have those grenades?" I asked, looking back at the tall, bearded Russian man.

"Da. Why do you ask?" He replied, pulling one off of his belt and holding it in his hand.

"I just realized it might be a good idea to set up a few… distractions for when we fly the coop." I remarked, taking the grenade out of his hand and wirelessly linking it to my omni-tool. "When the time is right, I'll detonate this and possibly another to cause a distraction."

"Good plan, it can mask our escape." He agreed, handing me his three other grenades. I clipped them to the back of my belt, and we continued onwards.

The aux generator room was the end of this section, so we moved back into the hallways, creeping up on the storage areas. From what Powell could tell, they had converted part of that section into a prison hold. It was the only place where they could be keeping Dan and his remaining escort.

We moved as fast as we could, but had to slow down and crouch when we passed the windows that peered into the exercise area. There were a sizable number of mercs in there, at least eight from my single glance. We made it about halfway down the hallway that entered the storage areas before a small explosion shook the hull, and triggered an emergency alert in our section.

"Aw, what the fuck?" I asked out loud as several of the overhead lights turned red. "I didn't seriously screw up a remote connection, did I?"

"That vibration came from storage area, not auxiliary." Dimitri corrected, as the pieces clicked together in my head.

"Let's get in there!" I urged as Powell cracked the door, revealing a smoke-filled hallway. I readied my Vindicator, keeping my eye out for anything. Gunshots rang out father down the hallway as we broke into a run to find the source of the gunfire.

When we got to the source, we found Dan kneeled down next to his escort, who looked to be bleeding from a gunshot wound. Dan quickly pulled a Carnifex towards us, before lowering it as he recognized us.

"Look, I d-don't know how the hell you guys g-got here, but you've gotta help!" Dan yelled, trying to compress the marine's wound.

Ven, Rinno, and one of Dimitri's escorts quickly moved into action, pulling out a field kit. They gave Dan's escort a shot of biogel directly into the wound, then injected several vials of antibiotics into her. She hadn't lost too much blood from the looks of it, but any infections would kill her off regardless.

"I…didn't… expect… to see… you guys… here." She said through gasps of air as Ven helped her back on her feet.

"We don't leave our own behind." I reassured, looking at a battered Dan, who was now covered in ash and missing all the equipment he had arrived with. "How about you? Are you OK?"

"I don't mean to rush gentlemen, but you do realize every merc on this blasted ship is now on their way to our location as we speak?" Richard interrupted, running up to us.

Dan just stared at him in confusion for a few seconds, before looking back to me.

"He's right, we've g-got to get the hell out of h-here." Dan said, a slightly frantic look in his eyes. "These guys were hired by Cerberus, Sean. I don't know exactly how they're involved, but we've got to get out of here as quickly as physically possible."

"Powell, you lead. Get us on the move!" I ordered, nearly yelling as we quickly moved through the smoky storage area. We took out three more mercs who were rushing to the source of the explosion, no match for our combined firepower. We moved into the main hold, taking out a few more mercs before entering the main hanger.

The area was large by most standards, about the size of three tennis courts put next to each other. There were three shuttles currently docked, one of which was already open. There looked to be about a dozen mercs here doing various things, from loading cargo, checking manifests, or just making small talk. We'd have to get through them to get one of those shuttles.

We broke off into two teams, while Ven stayed behind with Dan's escort. I took Dan, Rinno, Powell, and Richard while Dimitri broke off with his two marines. We used the haphazardly stacked boxes of cargo as cover, moving in as close as we could.

Once in position, I pulled out one of Dimitri's grenades, cooking it before tossing it at the largest group of mercs, about four. It landed, exploding with the force expected. Three of the mercs were killed instantly, while the survivor lost one of his legs. Everyone in the hanger turned towards the sudden commotion, giving us the perfect window of opportunity to unleash hell.

Four more of the mercs were cut down by the surprise hail of gunfire, while the final four managed to reach cover. I flushed two of them out with another grenade, as Powell and Rinno cut them down to size. Dimitri and his escorts quickly overpowered the remaining two mercs, bull rushing their position with their overcharged shields.

The moment the area was clear, we all rushed for the open shuttle. Dan took care of the pilot who didn't even put up that much of a fight. Inside, I saw it was an older turian model, but it was still capable of making small FTL jumps. That was all we needed.

"Dimitri, you have the stick! Get us the hell out of here!" I shouted as we all got strapped in to the seats.

The shuttle lifted off, as we flew as fast as we could out of the hanger and back into space.

"Powell, do it." I ordered, looking over at him as he nodded and stared into space.

The view outside of the ship was suddenly engulfed in a massive, blue flash as Powell overloaded the core of the derelict, turning the entire ship into a giant fragmentation grenade. As the fireball subsided, there was barely anything left of the Blue Suns ship to look at. The front half of the ship was just gone, and the remaining half was peppered with flaming hull breaches.

We jumped into FTL back towards the Migrant Fleet, as I shut my eyes as breathed a sigh of relief.

What an awful day.

…

**A/N: This chapter was one hell of a doozy, and I had to re-write several parts of it over the last month. Either way, I think it turned out quite nice. I got to showcase a lot of personality in this one, even if most of it was through radio transmissions. In the end, it was fun to write.**

**Like I mentioned previously, new chapter postings will be erratic. I don't really have a time to write, I always end up writing when I'm in a certain mood. Don't worry, in the end you'll still get your chapters, but don't expect them on a regular basis. Especially with the next spring semester starting soon.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	17. Synergy

…

"The best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one..."

(GLaDOS)

…

MFV _Orvosi_, June 15th, 11:56 AM, 2183

…

I sat in my medical bed, quietly reading an electronic version of _Soldat_: _Reflections of a German Officer, 1936-1949_. It was about Siegfried Knappe, who had survived battles in nearly every major Wehrmacht campaign during WWII. I used to have a paperback copy of this book many years ago, given to me by my father while he was cleaning out his office. It was an interesting read, considering how much he had experienced during the war. How people can survive in the worst situations possible… it reminded me a lot of what we all went through yesterday.

The current situation was… complicated. While the flight back to the Flotilla had gone smoothly, their reaction to our mission and our two new guests was less than ideal, to put it lightly. Not only had Powell nearly been shot by Migrant Fleet marines while we were disembarking, but they had placed both him and Richard in quarantine until further notice.

Me and Dimitri weren't in much of a position to argue with the Admirals at the moment, considering we had both sustained fairly serious injuries during our jump across ships. I had not only broken three of the toes in my left foot and two in my right, but I had also received a hairline fracture in my left foot's calcaneus. Dimitri, on the other hand, had stretched the muscles in both his Achilles tendons, and had also fractured the metatarsus bones for both his big toes.

All in all, Dimitri was already up and walking, albeit with a lot of pain and with the assistance of those heavily-padded Reese shoes. On the other hand, I would have to move around with the assistance of crutches, due to me not being able to put any stress on the hair lined calcaneus. If that broke, I would require a major operation to repair it.

We were all in sealed environments here on the _Orvosi_, despite Dimitri and I not having weak immune systems. I guess it helped to cut down on contamination to the rest of the fleet. I closed my datapad, leaning my head back and taking a deep sigh. I then looked over at the containment cell next to me, seeing Dan's remaining marine still hooked to the machines.

Apparently, she and Dan had improvised and IED using the power cell from her exo, and used it to blast open a thin wall. They had managed to get out of their holding cell, but the guards got a shot on her before Dan could take them down. She had passed out shortly after being brought on board. I genuinely hoped she makes it through this. Dan, on the other hand, had gotten away with only a couple scrapes and bruises. He volunteered to run maintenance on another ship while we were recovering, or until we got exiled, whichever came first.

With boredom finally overcoming me five minutes later, I picked my datapad back up and plucked a stylus out of the side. I began sketching out some ideas I had been considering for development since the plasma gun was nearly out of the developmental stages.

The biggest, dumbest, and most impractical idea I came up with was pretty much a direct rip-off of the Orbital MAC Cannons from Halo 2. Pretty much a giant gun surrounded by a livable space station, it was no secret that if something like this were to be realistically implemented, nothing currently existing would be able to withstand the impact and survive. It would also be oversized, expensive, and potentially capable of causing extinction-level events if fired at a planet.

Still, I could dream.

The second was a series of improvements for quarian envirosuits, mostly having to do with protection. I came up with an idea for an envirosuit layered with crisscrossed anti-microbial meshes, along with an underlining gel layer that could regulate body temperature. These two alone would double the utility value, and while the quarians could build a sturdy suit, they didn't seem to look at the prospect of comfort very often.

The last was something that was already in the conception stages. A few days ago, Sira and I had begun thinking about upgrading the old Type III Exo Suits into something that could offer a little more bang. While the Type IIIs were good at enhancing a soldier's regular abilities, they still lacked in the actual protection department.

Our new idea is to build a thick set of armor around the current suit, with the goal of rendering the user nearly impervious to small arms fire and light explosives. With these new Type IVs, it would no longer be just an exo suit. It would be full-blown power armor.

The thought alone brought back fond memories of the Fallout series, specifically Fallout 4, which Dan and I had played religiously in college.

I copied all these ideas to my omni tool for later reference, clearing the originals off of the pad. Just as I went to take another sip of water out of my bottle, the omni tool began playing The Imperial March from Star Wars.

Admiral Zorah was calling.

"What can I do for you, Admiral?" I answered in a passive-aggressive tone, still angry over how they all treated Richard and Powell when we arrived back.

"_I would like to personally speak with you and Dr. Vsevolod here on the Alarei_." He spoke in a commanding tone, more so than usual. "_There are many questions that still need to be answered here_."

"Well, we tried that before, and I remember it resulting in a lot of pointed guns and unnecessary quarantine procedures." I replied sarcastically, thinking back to that moment vividly.

"_Don't patronize me, doctor! You know exactly why we acted the way we did! If it were up to me, I would have had you all exiled for bringing that machine here!_" He shot back, sounding slightly more angry than usual. "_Now, if you wish to argue the case for your friend and this… automaton, I suggest you and Dr. Vsevolod come here, and soon. We've sent a shuttle to Port 9 to transport you. The other Admirals and I will be waiting._"

"Fine, but don't expect us too quickly. I have to hobble around now, in case you forgot." I finished with a touch of venom to my voice, shutting off the channel and knocking on Dimitri's side of the window. I mouthed out "Admirals" to him, as he grabbed his Reese boots.

I slowly dragged my feet to the edges of the bed, grabbing my crutches before applying force to my least damaged right foot. I hobbled over to the room controls, throwing on a mask and activating the decon cycle.

"So, what do the Admirals want from us now?" Dimitri asked while limping, his booming voice barely muffled by the breathing mask he was wearing.

"Apparently, they want to ask us a few questions." I answered with a mocking tone, moving about a two feet forward every time I used the crutches. "I don't know anymore, these people are so fucking paranoid it's skull-numbing."

"You mean like us?" He shot back, getting a chuckle out of me.

"Yeah, you have a point there." I replied with a weak smile.

"To be fair, this is first time they have come in contact with Geth in hundreds of years." He argued, causing me to roll my eyes. "Even if it isn't really a true Geth…"

"These are our friends we're talking about, Dimi." I shot back, nudging my head slightly towards him. "They're treating them like criminals right now."

"I know. If we are lucky, perhaps we can work out deal with Admirals, maybe reach compromise." He finished with shrugged shoulders as I focused back on my walking.

I slowly made my way through the ward with Dimitri, making sure not to apply any force whatsoever to my left foot. We eventually made it to the shuttle, as we stepped inside and looked at the pilot.

"Take us to the Alarei." I ordered, carefully lowering myself into as seat as the door closed and sealed behind us. "Man, I just want to go home right now… see Mara again."

"Heh, I understand how you feel my friend." Dimitri agreed, hooking himself into the seat next to mine as he got a cheeky look on his face. "I once knew this woman at SibFU, beautiful green eyes, perfect hourglass figure…"

I simply chuckled as the shuttle sped off, removing all but the sound of the engines from my mind.

"So, you mentioned Richard saying something important earlier?" Dimitri started, focusing hard on me with his dark green eyes.

"Yeah, though to be perfectly honest, I'm still not exactly sure what to make of it." I prefaced, propping my head up with one of my hands. "You know those Geth that left the Veil and attacked Eden Prime?"

"Yes." He answered with a nod, maintaining his eye contact perfectly.

"Well, according to Richard and Powell, they are a different faction of Geth, a splinter group that joined up with this ancient machine called Nazara." I started, as Dimitri began to get a quizzing look on his face. "Apparently, this thing is one of thousands, and they are responsible for the disappearance of the Protheans."

"I must admit, that does sound awfully far-fetched." He replied, sounding skeptical. "What possible rhyme or reason is there to eradicating entire species from galaxy?"

"I don't know man, but according to him that's what the scoop is." I finished, as we closed in on the Alarei. "That Alliance bigshot always being featured on the network seems to mention similar things, so maybe there is some truth to it all."

"I certainly hope not. Anything capable of destruction that widespread would be unbelievably powerful." He said, as the door to the shuttle opened, revealing two marines who were waiting for us.

"Lead on, gentlemen." I ordered, waving my hand dismissively at them as we slowly started making our way through the hallways.

The ship, normally filled with members of Rael's research team, was eerily devoid of activity. Only a few people were here, mostly vital staff. It felt very odd, but then again I guess this was an unusual situation for the Quarians.

We entered an area lined on both sides with containment cells, holding various materials, like Geth parts, hazardous materials, and the likes. Near the end of the hallway, I could see the Admirals, along with several of the marines from our mission.

"Ah, they've arrived. Glad you could join us." Raan nodded to each of us, as we nodded back.

"So… what do you need to know?" I asked, moving my arm a bit so I would be more comfortable resting on the crutch.

"I'm curious about your friend here… Dr. Richards." Raan began, looking into the room next to us where Richard and Powell were being kept. "If what he has said is to be believed, he is the first organic to make peaceful contact with the Geth in hundreds of years."

"Hmph… likely." Rael remarked under his breath, slowly shaking his head. "Looks more like some sort of Geth experiment gone wrong."

"I'm more interested in those cybernetic replacements he is using." Zadie remarked, looking through the glass at the two sitting very still on empty crates. "They've got to be the most advanced ones I've ever seen."

"Are you done?" I asked in an annoyed deadpan, glaring at the bickering group. "We're standing right here, and you're referring to one of my crewmates and friends as if they're some sort of lab rat."

"What have you been planning on doing with them?" Dimitri asked, as Koris' body posture became slightly… disoriented.

"We're currently debating that, doctor." Gerrel answered after a short pause. "It's part of the reason why we asked you two to come here."

Their seemingly disconnected, casual speech was actually really starting to piss me off by this point.

"What is there to debate?" I asked, putting particular emphasis on "debate" as I spoke. "You should let them out and talk to them!"

"It's not that simple, captain." Koris quipped, crossing his arms and shooting a glare at Rael before looking to me. "While I am in full support of releasing them both, there are those among us who are more concerned with their own interests than personal wellbeing."

"I thought we agreed we wouldn't be talking about that." Rael remarked with a slight grittiness to his voice, shooting daggers at Koris.

"I don't care what we "agreed" on, the captain and his crewmates deserve to know what has been discussed." Koris defended, as Raan stepped up from the side.

"Enough, both of you!" She quashed, looking hard at both of them. "This bickering gets us nowhere. We should ask Captain Michaels what he thinks we should do. As a captain, he has that right."

"Very well, then." Gerrel agreed, folding his hands behind his back. "Captain, how would you like us to handle this situation?"

With the full attention of all five of the Admirals, I spent a little over ten seconds thinking about what to do. I decided the best thing to do was to reiterate my previous statement in a calmer fashion.

"I think we should simply let them out and talk to them about it." I said, keeping my voice level and calm. "If we all just talk about this, I'm sure we can all find a way to compromise on all sides."

"But what if the Geth tries to access the ship systems?" Rael objected, looking to each of the Admirals to try and garner support.

"His name is Powell!" I corrected with obvious anger in my voice, before forcing myself to relax once more. "Listen, if he does anything, anything at all, you can banish me from the Flotilla without another thought. That's my proposal."

The Admirals looked at us and between one another for a few moments, before Admiral Raan broke the silence.

"I believe the easiest way to settle this would be with a vote." Raan suggested in a neutral tone, looking at all of us. "All those in favor of releasing them?"

Koris raised his hand, along with Zadie. I meekly raised my hand, even though I knew it wasn't going to count.

"And those in favor of keeping them detained?" She continued, as Gerrel and Rael obviously opposed.

"As the deciding vote, I side with Captain Michaels." Raan finished, much to my relief. "We haven't even tried talking to them, Rael, and you're already trying to blow this out of proportion. You need to take a more diplomatic approach every once and awhile. Now please, release them."

Rael was obviously not happy about this, his body posture changing almost instantly. He reluctantly turned around and entered the code for the door. It slid open, causing Richard and Powell to turn and face us. I waved them towards us without a word, making them get up to meet us outside of the containment room.

"The whole admiralty, huh?" Richard remarked in a slightly sarcastic tone, looking between them, us, and Powell. "I'm honestly not that surprised."

"I predicted a hostile encounter at a margin of 79.3 percent." Powell said alongside him, focusing exclusively on the Admirals. "I'm shocked that I was wrong."

"We've been… discussing the current situation, and we've agreed to Captain Michael's suggestion to release you two and include you in the conversation." Raan explained, sounding slightly nervous.

She must have felt intimidated by Powell's size. He really was massive compared to all of us, even Dimitri.

"Well, I appreciate the… chance you are giving us." Richard thanked, nodding very quickly before looking up to Powell for assistance as his social phobia took hold.

"I understand this was very… unexpected for everyone here, but I'm sure we can make a compromise here that will benefit all parties." Powell took over, causing Raan and Zadie to take a step back.

"That sounds reasonable." Koris agreed, crossing his arms as he gained everyone's attention. "Now, there is something here that I am curious about. If you are not a Geth, then what are you?"

Richard and Powell looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, before looking back to me.

"You might as well just tell them, it's not like it really matters anymore." I encouraged, giving them both a small wink.

"Tell us what?" Rael asked, sounding very unamused.

"Alright…" Richard caved, letting out a massive sigh before looking back to the Admirals. "Back when we used to work for the Alliance, I specialized in neuroscience. I was brought on because of a process I theorized, where one could take a living brain and rip the signals of said brain and place them into a computer system. In the end, I created what I coined as the organic A.I."

"You created A.I.? And from brains?" Zadie remarked in disbelief.

"How is that even possible?" Rael shot back, not believing any of it.

"It's quite simple when you break it down, really." Richard began, folding his hands together as his thoughts collected. "By tracing the neural development of a healthy human fetus, I developed a roadmap for rebuilding neural signals, strand by strand. From there, it was rather simple to translate these raw signals into actual data, through the use of artificial neural receptors."

"Powell here was my first, and last successful transfer. Shortly after I created him, we were attacked, and you've all heard that story." Richard finished, looking back to me for approval. I accepted it with a curt nod.

He knows that mentioning Lydia could possibly complicate matters. I'm sure Dan would appreciate his little retcon.

"I was born December 12th, 2179, 12:41 PM aboard Aldrin Station." Powell stated, crossing his hands behind his back. "I used to help in all matters, including assisting the research staff and maintaining the station's various systems. Now, I help Dr. Richards and the other remaining task force members with whatever they need."

"And you did this all on your own free will? You were under no restraints at all?" Gerrel asked, sounding shocked, and possibly horrified at the same time.

"At first, I was placed in a secure network for observational purposes, but later I proved my worth and trustworthiness enough to be granted full access to station systems." Powell replied, sounding rather pleased with himself. "During the time I spent on Aldrin Station, I performed 174,669 maintenance tasks, assisted station staff on 8,541 different occasions, and eliminated roughly 12% of the station's boarders during the Cerberus assault using the autonomous security systems."

"Why didn't you tell us about this when you first arrived?" Rael asked, looking specifically at me as he spoke as if to accuse me of a crime.

"Why do you think?" I replied back nonchalantly, readjusting myself on the crutches. "We knew there would be no chance of joining the Flotilla if you knew we had an A.I. lying around… even if we do view him as a person. For all intents and purposes, Powell is an individual. Not a computer or some complex system, but his own person. He is on a much more complex level than the Geth, and I can guarantee you can trust him."

Powell nodded silently to the Admirals, as Koris spoke up.

"So, what should we do with the two of you, then?" He asked, walking closer to us.

"We were made aware that Sean and Dimitri now live with the rest of the leads on a planet in a system that is off the Relay grid?" Richard questioned, looking back at us as we nodded in confirmation. "We'd like to just reintegrate with our old colleagues, perhaps have access to some laboratory space?"

"We will… consider it." Raan said with finality, nodding slightly as Rael shot her a dirty look. "For now, we will keep you confined to your cell, but we will be back in a few minutes once we have made a decision."

"Understood. Thank you, Admirals." Richard finished, as he and Powell walked back into the storage room. The door closed, leaving just us and the Admirals once more.

"Follow us." Raan asked, as we followed them back out to the lab space we entered from.

"I don't want them anywhere near the camp or the labs! These terms are unacceptable!" Rael ran off almost instantly, outrage filling his vocal coords and his body movements.

"I see no reason why they can't be trusted to rejoin Captain Michaels and his crew." Koris quietly disagreed, crossing his arms once more.

"According to what Captain Michaels said earlier, Dr. Richards and "Powell" deserted a few months ago." Gerrel mentioned, causing me to reflexively roll my eyes. "Why did they leave, and for what purpose?"

"The two of them left because the felt threatened being here in the Fleet." I explained, taking a seat on a nearby stool so I could get off of the blasted crutches. "They wanted to try and make peaceful contact with the Geth, learn more about this machine race that no one has seen for many hundreds of years. By the time they had made it past the Veil, Richard had been badly wounded during a pirate attack. Powell managed to make contact with them, and negotiated with the Geth to save his life."

"Powell saved Dr. Richard's life?" Raan repeated, as I nodded back.

"Yes. It was after his recovery that he and Powell discovered that the Geth that had begun attacking human colonies around the Traverse were not "true" Geth, and were actually "heretics." I explained further, probing my memory for every bit of information that I had. "These Geth were following that rouge SPECTRE, Saren. The majority of the Geth did not accept this, and stayed on the other side of the Veil as they had done for the last few hundred years."

"Why did these "heretic" Geth follow Saren out of the Veil?" Zadie probed, sounding very interested.

"They followed him because he is apparently taking orders from an "old machine" known as "Nazara"." I explained, vaguely aware of how batshit it sounded. "These "old machines", or "Reapers" as some others call them, supposedly wiped out the Protheans millions of years ago, and then just vanished."

Silence filled the void, as everyone weighed in one what I had said.

"OK… so what happened after that?" Gerrel dodged, seeming more interested in the order of events than the explanation. Either that, or he just thought it was insane.

"After that, the Geth provided Powell with a platform to inhabit, and gave them a ship to investigate previously gathered data on Reaper movements in Sigurd's Cradle." I began to wrap up, meshing my fingers together. "From there, they were attacked, drifted off, and were found by your mining ship."

"OK… we will discuss all of this privately." Gerrel said, looking at the other Admirals as they nodded in unanimous agreement. They all walked off into another room, leaving Dimitri and I alone.

"So… that went well." I remarked in my usual sarcastic tone, running my hand through my hair.

"We well as it could have." Dimitri shot back, taking a seat on the stool next to me. "Are you sure it was good idea to mention Reapers?"

"I don't think there was any harm in telling them. We already threw the A.I. research out into the open, why not that?" I argued, looking at the door that led to the holding area.

"Because it sounds a little "farfetched", as you call it." He answered, as I nodded in mild approval.

"Maybe. I suppose there's nothing I can really do about it now, huh?" I finished, as he simply nodded at me.

After two or three minutes, the Admirals came back, looking like they had a sense of purpose to their movements, even Rael.

"We have come to a decision, Captain." Raan announced as I stood back up with my crutches.

"Well, let's hear it." I greeted with enthusiasm, even though I was secretly dreading the worst.

"We have agreed to allow Dr. Richards and Powell to rejoin your crew, but in exchange they must wear tracking devices and provide any and all information on the Geth that they have." She laid out, plain and simple.

"That sounds reasonable." I agreed, though still hating the idea that they would now have to be tracked and probed for information. "Anything else?"

"No, that's about it. We'll work out the smaller details at a later time, but those are the ground rules." She finished, crossing her hands behind her back.

"Captain, I'll be expecting a full report of the derelict incident by 0800 hours tomorrow." Rael mentioned with a hint of bitterness to his voice, as he walked off to let Richard and Dimitri out.

I smiled at Dimitri, feeling triumphant.

We had won over the approval of the Admiralty Board. Not an easy task.

…

MFV _Asgore_, June 15th, 8:42 PM, 2183

…

The five of us stepped off of the transport ship, getting the perfect view of the valley at sunset. Dan instantly took in a deep breath of fresh air, him being the outdoorsman type. Dimitri just smiled, the mountains reminding him of his time on Elysium.

Richard, who normally had a great fear of wide open spaces, actually looked impressed with the view. I couldn't really gauge Powell's reaction though, considering his face was a giant flashlight head.

Both he and Richard had been fit with trackers in the form of ankle bracelets. The Admirals were very paranoid that the two of them would run off again and steal the secret recipe to Quarian chili or something ridiculous like that.

I also don't think the Admirals were aware that Powell could leave his body anytime he wanted. Simpletons.

We disembarked, walking through the forest path to where our housing was located. The moment Mara, Jack, and Sira saw us, equal parts confusion, fear, and worry filled their faces.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Mara asked as I hobbled over on my crutches.

"It's a long story." I replied, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss. "I'll tell you over a nice bottle of wine."

With that, we all went home.

Home sweet home.

…

**A/N: I'm so freaking sorry this one took so long to come out, everyone I've been so goddamn busy with college and work and everything that finding the time an motivation to write has been quite challenging. I feel bad making everyone wait like this, and it hurts every time I imagine disappointing my readers. I hope you can all forgive me.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	18. Escalation

…

"We know that peace is the condition under which mankind was meant to flourish. Yet peace does not exist of its own will. It depends on us, on our courage to build it and guard it and pass it on to future generations. George Washington's words may seem hard and cold today, but history has proven him right again and again. "To be prepared for war," he said, "is one of the most effective means of preserving peace." Well, to those who think strength provokes conflict, Will Rogers had his own answer. He said of the world heavyweight champion of his day: "I've never seen anyone insult Jack Dempsey."

(Ronald Reagan)

…

Pacem Proving Grounds, June 29th, 2:51 PM, 2183

…

I carefully watched over the marines that were running the outdoor obstacle course, making sure to keep an eye out for any discrepancies over the course of the run. Sira and I had begun work on the new, up-armored Gen IV exosuits, which would be purely military in nature. These suits looked very different from the Gen IIIs, but functioned on a similar level.

The Gen IVs biggest and most noticeable feature is the armor plating that now covered the entire suit. Since the exo already augments the wearer's strength and speed, we could afford to saddle it up with a stupid amount of armor. That consisted of a unique blend of standard ablative ceramics, interweaved with lightweight sheets of titanium. The end result was a thick, yet surprisingly light piece of armor plating that could shrug off upwards of 100 to 200 standard mass accelerator rounds before serious damage occurred. For a single soldier, this was unheard of.

The real challenge came with designing how entering and exiting the suit worked. Despite the quarians and their envirosuits, Rael specified that the suit must be able to hold an atmosphere for emergency purposes. This required that we not only make the suit easy to enter and exit, but that it would seal perfectly as well. We eventually came up with a system where the back of the armor "blossoms open" to allow it's user to enter, then when the suit detects that it's user had pulled themselves in, it shuts back up and seals with the assistance of a rubber lining on the seams.

Other features included an on-board computer that interfaced with a quarian's envirosuit, beefed up kinetic barriers, and even an extendable six-inch knife concealed in the right gauntlet.

It looked fearsome just sitting the lab. Out here in the proving grounds, it looked like a siege tank with legs.

Private Cinta'Harra smashed through another wooden wall, sprinting up a dirt hill. Once at the top, he charged down the other side. He did this while being peppered with small caliber mass accelerator rounds being fired by two little turrets. With the boosted kinetic barriers and thick armor plating, he might as well had be running through a hail storm.

Once past the kill zone, he bounded over the concrete barriers, tossing two dummy grenades at the nearby structure and disabling the turrets.

"Time!" I shouted over the loudspeaker as the buzzer rang, ending the test. "Good job, Cinta. You just killed your previous score by three point seven seconds."

"Thank you, sir." He replied over the radio as he walked back up to my observation platform.

"So, did you run into any problems with the new actuators?" I asked, pen at the ready to write down any new information. "Any stickiness or stiffness?"

"No, they perform a lot better than the old ones." Cinta answered, turning slightly to look at his knees. "I was able to run slightly faster, but the armor on the lower half of the leg scrapes against the top half with the increased range of movement."

"Right, so I'll have to shave the armor down to prevent the two from coming into contact with one another." I replied, quickly jotting the fix down in my datapad. "Feel free to take the suit back to the lab, I think we've gotten plenty done today."

"Yes sir." He finished politely, turning on his heel and breaking into a brisk run.

I milled over the notes I had taken, relieved to see no major issues as far as I could see. At this point, I couldn't imagine any reason why the new suit couldn't go into production. Right as I was about to go back to the lab, my omni-tool began ringing, playing Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better".

Mara was calling.

"Yeah, I'm here." I answered, putting down my datapad and looking out the window towards Camp Dolor. "What's up?"

"_You need to get back to the lab now._" She said in a deadpan voice, sounding slightly worried. "_Something big is going down on the Alliance News Network, and Richard is freaking out about it._"

"I'll be there in two minutes." I remarked, closing the line, grabbing my datapad, and running off at full speed.

My mind was racing as to what could be going on. Everything had been so quiet since Richard and Powell returned, and now that had apparently all changed. I could only imagine the worst was happening.

I flashed my ID to the guards as I ran through the doors and into the decon chamber. Once inside, I could see everyone in the lab, including the technicians, gathered around one of the video screens, watching intently as the new report went on.

"…a devastating attack this afternoon when a massive Geth fleet entered the system, tearing through the Citadel Defense Fleet and attacking the station itself. The Alliance Fifth Fleet, led by Admiral Steven Hackett, arrived in time to save the Destiny Ascension and the Council, but at the loss of many of their own ships. There are hundreds of reports still coming in, but the death toll is looking to be climbing into the thousands as we speak." The report announced as video flashed by showing the attack as it took place.

There were what looked to be several hundred Geth ships tearing through the Defense Fleet, but then something came into focus that actually disturbed me.

A large ship, almost pitch black, was pictured literally plowing through a turian cruiser as it sped towards the station itself. Nothing seemed to have any tangible effect on it, not even the main gun on the Destiny Ascension. It seemed to resemble a squid or a jellyfish, but just gave me a bad feeling in my gut just by looking at it.

I looked off to one of the storage rooms, seeing Richard and Powell through a window as someone spoke to them off to the side. I quickly walked over, entering to see everyone turn to look at me. Everyone was here, even Dan, who had stayed behind at Serenity Valley to work on some of the _Explorer's _weapon systems.

"Richard… was that Nazara?" I asked, still feeling that sick sensation in my gut as I began to sweat. "Was that one of those Old Machines, a fucking Reaper?"

"Yes." He nodded in confirmation with a scared, frantic look in his eyes. He was obviously freaked out, his hands were shaking and he was pacing back and forth constantly. "We're dead, we're dead…"

"We're not going to die, Richard!" Mara said, almost yelling at him. "We're going to work the problem! Come up with solutions! We'll be fine!"

"You don't understand!" Richard yelled full force, stopping and pointing at her. "These things have been doing this for millions and millions of years! None of the previous civilizations have stopped it! How do you think we're going to change anything?!"

"Calm down!" Dimitri demanded, grabbing Richard by the shoulders and looking him straight in the eye. "We can find way to beat this threat, but only if we can all work together as team! Now take a deep breath and sit down, you will feel better."

Richard nodded quickly to the mountain of a man, taking in a few deep breaths and sitting down on a nearby crate.

"So, what are we going to do about this new threat?" Sira asked after a short moment of silence, looking at all of us with some worry on her face as well. "My people built the Destiny Ascension to take on any ship in the galaxy, yet even it wasn't strong enough to stop that… thing."

"Something ha-happened to it shortly after the ar…arms of the station opened b-back up." Dan observed, rubbing his chin in thought. "Something weakened it enough to allow it to be de-damaged."

"It looked like it had extremely powerful kinetic barriers." Jack added, tugging on his beard as he looked off into space. "If all of that damage was being shrugged off by armor alone, they never would have been able to destroy it."

"What about the nuclear option?" Dimitri suggested, causing everyone except Dan to look at him with bewilderment.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Dimi." Mara chastised, as he maintained the serious look on his face.

For some reason, his quip reminded me of something.

"Actually, I have a better idea." I said, opening up my omni-tool and browsing through the dozens of concept drawings I had created over the last few months.

"I'd love to hear it." Jack remarked, just as I found the one I was looking for.

"This." I announced, projecting a hologram into the center of the room where everyone could see it.

"What the hell is that?" Mara remarked with confusion clearly evident on her and everyone else's face.

"This is something I came up with a month ago. It's an Orbital Defense Platform, or ODP for short." I began, walking around the hologram as I showed it off. "In concept, the ODP is simply a gigantic gun with a space station built around it. The gun, if used at full power, would be capable of firing a three-thousand ton slug at thirty percent of light speed. It would also be equipped with twelve two-hundred and fifty millimeter point defense guns, four entire GUADIAN grids, and its very own built-in garrison of LOKI and YMIR mechs to repel any boarding attempts."

"You are absolutely insane." Sira remarked in disbelief, looking at me as if I was crazy.

"This is a-awesome." Dan said shortly after her, smiling as he looked at the hologram. "With that amount of fir…firepower, you'd be able to trigger an extinction-level event o-on a planet with one shot."

"I can't imagine anything surviving hit from such a weapon." Dimitri supported, pointing at the midsection. "This would surpass any mass accelerator weapon in existence in size alone."

"Is this a reciprocating recoil system built into the structure of station itself?" Powell quipped, highlighting part of the superstructure in the hologram.

"Correct. The recoil from the main gun would be too much for traditional thrusters to handle." I pointed out, distorting the hologram slightly as I poked my finger into it.

"Excuse me, but can we please discuss how this actually helps us?" Mara inquired, looking none too pleased. "Even if we could somehow convince the Admirals to let us build this monstrosity, how does it help anyone else?"

"That in there lies the problem." I remarked with a slightly more downtrodden tone. "For now, even after this attack, I highly doubt that everyone is going to accept the idea that a highly advanced race of machines is coming to eradicate all intelligent life in the galaxy."

"How can they not accept that after one just wiped the floor with them?" Sira asked, sounding very skeptical.

"Sean is right, this attack isn't going to be enough to convince them of the truth, and even if it does, they won't publically admit it." Jack agreed, nodding his head slightly. "From what I've seen in the news reports alone, they're more interested in their own politics than they are the truth."

"The best thing we can do for now is prepare ourselves for the worst." I said, closing the hologram and bringing it back to my omni-tool. "If we can just buy ourselves time until the Reapers being arriving in mass and establish ourselves in a position of strength, we can further develop countermeasures and other tech to combat these machines."

A slight nod of agreement circulated around the room, as everyone seemed to side with my thinking.

"There's still the problem of actually convincing the Admirals to let you build this station, Sean." Richard remarked, still looking down at the floor. "I don't think the Admirals are going to be much more receptive to your idea than the Council."

"Oh, I've already got something planned for that." I reassured, letting a small smirk cross my lips as I looked over at the camo Geth platform. "Powell, remember when you were telling me about the ships the Geth have at their disposal?"

…

MFV _Neema_, June 30th, 10:01 AM, 2183

…

I was seated on the side of the room near the Admirals and a few key members of the Conclave, along with Richard in an "emergency" conference. We were almost ready to begin, we were just waiting on two of the captains.

Last night, taking advantage of the news of the Citadel attack and some information Powell had picked up while in Geth space, we fabricated a report describing a massive dreadnought that the Geth had "recently" finished building. While this dreadnought was actually real and larger than any of the others that fell under the Treaty of Farixen, it was only halfway finished. Knowing that the "true" Geth had no intention of leaving the Veil anytime soon, we could safely inform the Admirals of this and fire "hypothetical scenarios" at them like a Gatling gun without actually "lying".

A little fear-mongering wouldn't hurt the Migrant Fleet. After all, if it wasn't for Themistocles striking fear of another Persian invasion into the Athenian people, their navy would never have been strong enough to take them on during the Battle of Artemisium. I honestly felt that this would eventually save lives in the future, much like that had.

It was hard to convince Richard to play along, considering the fact that this could further fan the flames of hatred between the Quarians and the Geth. Luckily, Powell agreed with my plan, and was able to get Richard to cave. If anything, this would help the Admirals trust Powell, and if we could get Powell accepted in the eyes of the Admirals, maybe they'd be a little… accommodating towards him and Richard in the future.

"I still can't believe it, first the attack on the Citadel, now this." Gerrel mused as we waited, shaking his head in frustration. "Are you sure this information is one-hundred percent accurate?"

"Powell is never wrong when he gives you "one-hundred percent" as an answer, Admiral." Richard remarked, almost in a mocking tone, as he took a clean rag out of his left pocket and wiped off his cybernetic eye. "This dreadnought is not only real, but bigger than any other ship we've seen."

"Please, be silent on the matter until the last of the captains arrive." Raan shushed, as silence filled the room once more.

Two minutes later, Captain Kar'Danna vas Rayya and Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna arrived. I didn't know much about Kar'Danna, but I was very good friends with Ysin'Mal. He was one of the biggest voices to support my Haven Plan back when I first proposed it in January, and led one of the first scouting missions to find suitable systems for colonization.

Taking their places, the meeting could now begin.

"Thank you all for arriving on such short notice." Raan thanked, looking to each of the captains as they all stood at attention. "I realize you're all probably wondering why we called this meeting."

"That's an understatement." Captain Mal commented in a slightly annoyed tone as he crossed his arms.

"I think it'd be easier just to go right into it, Raan." Zadie urged, as Raan looked back at her.

"You're right." She nodded back, before looking to the Captains once more. "In the last twelve hours, we've come across some disturbing information regarding the Geth that we need to discuss with the Conclave. Captain Michaels, Dr. Richards, please."

We both walked forward, standing next to the Admirals as we looked out over the Captains.

"Yesterday, we finished decoding some of the data we've retrieved from beyond the Perseus Veil." Richard started off, grasping his datapad tightly as I felt well over a dozen eyeballs train on us. "What we've discovered is… disturbing. The Geth have recently finished constructing a dreadnought almost three-thousand meters in length, making it the biggest dreadnought to ever exist."

Murmurs immediately permeated through the Conclave as the news sunk in. We certainly had their full attention now.

"Is this the same dreadnought that attacked the Citadel yesterday?" One of the Captains asked, as I expected.

"No, it's not." I answered, taking a step forward as silence filled the room once more. "The ship that used to attack the Citadel was of a completely different design, and was destroyed during the battle."

"Then what kind of ship was used during that attack?" Kar'Danna inquired, raising his hand slightly. "I saw the footage of that attack, and that thing shrugged off rounds from the Destiny Ascension."

I pondered his question for a few seconds, trying to think of a good explanation that wouldn't make me sound like a loon.

"We still aren't sure what kind of ship was used, but we have reason to believe that a rouge Council SPECTRE named Saren Arterius used it in the attack." I put together, getting a few odd looks from the Captains. "Whether he found it or built it using his own money, we have no idea. All we know is that it bears no resemblance to any of the designs the Geth have utilized."

"So, what of this Geth Dreadnought?" Another Captain asked out loud, sounding almost annoyed. "Why should we be concerned about it?"

"Why should you be concerned about it?" I repeated in confusion, feeling insulted. "If the Flotilla ever tries to take back the homeworld, thousands could die trying to destroy this behemoth. What if the Geth somehow caught wind of the developments my team have been contributing to the Fleet? They could attack the Flotilla, or even the Klenot system, and nothing we have would be able to stop it."

"Only the combined effort of the Fleet would be able to destroy this… if they attacked the Klenot system, nothing would be able to stop it." Koris hypothesized, just as had hoped he would. "We'd lose all the resources we've fought so hard to find."

"Captain Michaels, does your team have any suggestions?" Raan asked, getting the room silent once more.

"Only one." I remarked, taking out my datapad and projecting my design out into the open for everyone to see. "I've envisioned something powerful enough to knock out any dreadnought in existence. I call it the Orbital Defense Platform."

The Conclave went wild with chitter-chatter as the Admirals got astonished looks in their eyes.

"This space station… its one gigantic mass accelerator weapon." Rael stated, sounding dumbfounded.

"The Orbital Defense Platform would be capable of firing 3,000 ton projectiles at 30 to 30.2 percent of light speed, and the impact would be equal to that of 51,625 megatons of TNT." I delved further, as everyone had actually stopped talking to listen to me. "This is a one shot, one kill weapon. Nothing else in the galaxy would be able to match it in pure destructive power."

"Why does it have to be so powerful?" Zadie asked from behind me, actually sounding more curious.

"I'll be honest, I did scale it up slightly after seeing the footage of the attack yesterday." I lied, gripping my datapad slightly harder. "After seeing how many deaths had been caused by one ship, I wanted to make something that could end any threat before it can cause serious damage."

"Even if we did agree to make this beauty, it would be an incredible undertaking to build." One of the captains remarked from near the front. She was wearing an all-black envirosuit, even the faceplate was black. "It would take many months, and a lot of raw resources."

"I've already calculated that." Richard chimed back in, fumbling slightly with his datapad. "All the raw resources we need are already located in the Klenot system itself, and with a full complement of 2,000 volunteers, we could have this station finished by the end of the year."

"That's not all." I added, looking specifically at the Admirals this time around. "If this station is built, we could have all the leftover components needed to jumpstart a dedicated shipyard. We could slowly begin bringing in ships, upgrading and up armoring them to bolster the Fleet's combat effectiveness."

I could feel Richard's cybernetic eye as it bore into the back of my skull. He knew I was eluding to war with the Geth. Still, despite how he felt about my allusions, I think I caught them in my net.

"With our own shipyard, we could begin prepping our ships for a war with the Geth." Rael said to himself, but within earshot of the other Admirals.

"This meeting is not about war with the Geth, Rael!" Koris quietly rebuked so that the Captains could not hear him.

"Even disbarring the possibility of war with the Geth in the future, having our own shipyard just for the purposes of repairing and retrofitting the many underperforming ships in the Fleet would be a major step forward for our people." Gerrel mused, rubbing the bottom of his mask as he thought.

Things progressed into assorted conversation from there. When things had finally calmed down, a vote was held to see what would become of my idea.

In a landslide vote, I got the approval for my Orbital Defense Platform.

…

Serenity Valley, July 7th, 9:34 PM, 2183

…

I looked casually at my omni-tool, checking for any new updates before looking back to Jack. He was currently in the process of developing an experimental shielding system for use on ships, but he had hit a wall with its development.

"So the problem is with emitting the shield, not necessarily with the generation of said shield." I pointed out, looking over his hand drawn designs.

"Yes, I've solved the problem of power balance and directional control, but I've still been unable to get an emitter design that meets my expectations." Jack agreed, further explaining the problem. "What I need is something that can project away from the surface of an object, but even the military-grade ones are insufficient."

"That's a pretty tall order, Jack." I said, slightly blown away at the specifications he had set out for this. "There's only one thing I can think of that could do the trick, but…"

I paused, realizing that I had unknowingly stumbled into old, uncomfortable territory.

"But what?" Jack asked, suddenly very curious as to what was now going through my head.

"Let's just say… I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of treading into my… past projects." I stammered out, thinking back many years.

"Ok then… so you can't help me with this?" Jack probed further, sounding a little disappointed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I just… can't." I finished, letting out a small sigh as I excused myself from his quarters.

Once outside, I stared up at the stars above us for the longest time, thinking back to that red-letter day, the day when everything changed. Even to this day, I still get those very same shivers of fear and hopelessness going up my spine whenever I recall those final moments. I thought Dan and I were dead. Just recalling that chilling cold, the smell of the ozone in the air, it gave me cold sweats.

"Hey." I heard Dan greet from behind me, snapping me out of my trance. "What's going on?"

"Oh, I was just… thinking back to Area 51." I answered honestly, looking back to the stars. "You ever still think about what happened?"

"Sometimes I still get n-nightmares about it." He admitted, taking a seat on the rock next to me before we sat in silence for a few moments. "Even after what hap…happened to us, I still wonder w-what we could have done with it."

"All that potential was there, just waiting for us." I reminisced, holding out my hand towards the sky and grabbing at it. I shook my head in denial as I thought back to my parents, specifically my father. "Do you think I've done the right thing?"

"What do you mean?" Dan questioned, looking over at me as I continued to stare up at the stars.

"Do you think my parents would have liked what I've done?" I asked, feeling the smallest bit of moisture building up in the corner of my eyes. "Have I done enough to help people?"

"You've he…helped give an entire race of p-people a better chance of surviving in this galaxy, Sean." Dan said, looking back up at the stars with me. "And that's not even c-counting everything you've done for us. Saving us from Lynda and those Cerberus mo…monsters, giving us a safe place to live by negotiating with the Q-quarians… I think they would have been very p-proud of you."

I leaned back up, nodding to his words as I fought back tears. I took in a deep breath, looking back to him.

"Thanks Dan." I replied with a lowered voice, standing back up and looking down at him. "Just promise me one thing… if I ever do something stupid that could put us, the crew, or the Quarians at risk… you stop me, no matter what I do or say."

"I promise, don't worry." He agreed, standing up and shaking my hand.

With that, we went our separate ways into the darkness, with nothing but moonlight to guide us.

Once again, I silently hoped to myself that I could do proud by them.

…

**A/N: Things are heating up around the galaxy, and the crew of the Explorer seek to speak softly, and carry a big stick. What will become of their shiny, giant gun, and what will happen in the future? Tune in to find out!**

**I've been taking advantage of my Spring Break to pump a few more man hours into this poor story. I hope you guys appreciate it!**

**And for future reference, I'd like to clarify a few things regarding the sizes of these ships. The biggest thing is that I've rescaled the Geth Dreadnought to be around the same size as a Quarian Liveship, roughly 2,817 meters (Liveship) to 2,950 meters (Geth Dreadnought). I did this to make it more of an immediate threat, and also because I didn't find it all that threatening in Mass Effect 3. Second, the canon length of an Orbital Defense Platform is 1,336 meters, but I rounded it up to 1,500 meters just to make it more interesting. For reference, a Sovereign-class Reaper averages out to about 2,000 meters. And finally, most of the calculations and specs for the ODP were worked out by the lovely people on the old forums. **

**Let's be real here, the impact from one of these projectiles releases five times more energy than what was released by the Tsar Bomba. This gun can kill a planet. Imagine what it can do to a Reaper.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	19. Anabasis

…

"Some trees flourish, others die. Some cattle grow strong, others are taken by wolves. Some men are born rich enough and dumb enough to enjoy their lives. Ain't nothing fair. You know that."

(John Marston)

…

MFV _Explorer_, September 12th, 7:07 AM, 2183

…

I looked around the mess, scanning for anyone who had just woken up. I then leaned back in my chair, drinking some of the coffee we had just gotten in yesterday. It tasted much better than that other crap we had received last month, but hey… this was how it was. Here, in an isolated system like this, you take what you are given. I should consider myself lucky to have this coffee at all. The powdered eggs weren't bad either, but you got really tired of them after a while.

I looked back to my datapad, looking over the latest report on my little pet project. The primary support sections were mostly finished, but they still needed some more time to iron out all the little problems. The octagon-shaped ring section that lined the bottom half of the station was where all the control and support systems would be located. It was divided into eight individual sections to lessen the effect a possible hull breach could have on the station as a whole.

The northern portion of the station is where the command center is located. From here, all station functions could be controlled and monitored. It could also be used as a giant safe room in "worst-case scenarios", such as overwhelming attacks from boarders. I wouldn't let what happened on Aldrin Station happen ever again to anyone under my watch. It helped that the doors would magnetically seal.

The southern portion was where most of the primary recoil system for the gun was located. It was pretty cool, really. It utilizes the massive blast back of the gun itself to keep the station in geosynchronous orbit by redirecting the pressure wave towards the bottom of the gun. Basically, no matter how hard you fire the gun, you will always have an equal force fighting against it.

The western and eastern portions of the station are where the docking clamps for frigates and cruisers were located. Due to the massive amount of variation in most of the docking mechanisms, we opted to instead adapt to a universal, pressure-based "cradle" system that uses extending "arms" to dock with incoming ships. It worked surprisingly well. They had been used on Aldrin to great effect, I remember.

The northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast portions of this octagon consisted of the smaller transport bays on the outside edge, and the habitats on the inside. These provided storage, barracks, and other utilities. Unlike I had originally planned, these sections would not feature large windows in the ceilings. Each of these four sections would eventually be armed with three 250mm point defense guns and a single GUADIAN grid.

The gun itself would make up the entire 1,500 meters of the station. It'll have its own auto-loader system and a dedicated security detachment and maintenance crew. The projectiles the gun will be firing will consist of an outer steel layer with a tungsten core. The steel will "squash" on impact with a ship, while the tungsten core travels inside the target.

There was no need to add an explosive filler because the kinetic force of the round itself would be enough to cripple a ship in its entirety. That, and there would be the risk of one detonating inside the barrel while being fired. The electricity that'll be going through those coils would be capable of prematurely detonating anything we could fit on the rounds.

All in all, I think it was a sound design. The biggest problems we had to deal with at the moment involved the gun itself. The gun would make up the main length of the station, exactly 1,500 meters above and below the ring section, but the loading mechanism would have to traverse approximately two thirds of that length. It had to accomplish this, ideally, in six seconds, while also charging the magnetic coils inside the barrel.

I admit, it was overly engineered. Just thinking about it made me feel like those poor bastards that designed the Tiger tank during World War Two.

I had to figure out how to make this magic, Reaper-killing machine work before actual construction began on the barrel next month. If I didn't have it solved, then I was in deep shit.

What I wouldn't give to work with those crazy bastards that designed the Heckler &amp; Koch G11. Piece of kraut space magic, that gun was.

My thoughts were scrambled the moment I heard the elevator door open. I saw Lenlo walk into the mess shortly afterwards, making a beeline to the food station.

"Hey, next time you see Kirva, can you tell her to please stop moving the toolbox I have on the bridge?" I asked casually, as he walked over with his standard nutrient tube.

"She moved it again?" He questioned with slight disbelief in his tired voice. "Ugh… yeah, I'll talk to her later."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I acknowledged, looking back to my plate of eggs.

We sat in silence, eating out breakfast quietly for a few minutes before Lenlo asked a question.

"Hey Captain, what do you think about all of this "Reaper" talk that's been going around the Fleet?" He asked, plucking the nutrient tube out from under his helmet.

His question caught me off guard. I looked down at the table for a few seconds thinking about what to say before I looked back to him.

"You want my honest opinion?" I inquired, scooting a little closer to the table. "I think they are one-hundred and fifty percent real. No question about it."

"Really? No one else seems as convinced as you." Lenlo observed, leaning on the table and looking directly into my eyes. "Why are you so sure?"

"Well, there's been a significant amount of information surfacing to support it." I defended, scooping some more egg into my mouth, chewing it, and swallowing before I continued. "That ship that attacked the Citadel was unique. Nothing in the known galaxy should have been able to shrug off shots from the Destiny Ascension. Nothing."

"What about the Collectors?" He asked further, cocking his head.

His question caught me off guard. I had to think about it for a few seconds.

"See, I thought about that too." I remarked, pointing my fork at him before putting it back down. "While I'm sure the Collectors have some… unusual technology at their disposal, I don't think they have any motivation to attack the Citadel."

"No one knows motivations of Collectors." Dimitri quipped as he walked over from the barracks, going straight for the pot of coffee I had made. "Every time they appear, they disappear as soon as they get what they want."

"Good morning to you too, Dimi." I said, crossing my arms.

He simply raised his coffee cup in quiet confirmation, before lowering it to his mouth and sipping loudly.

"I still think it's a possibility." Lenlo continued, looking back to me. "I think the whole "ancient machine" thing seems a bit… extreme."

"You believe whatever you want to believe, Lenlo." I finished off, standing up with my plate. "That's my opinion on the matter."

"Fair enough." He agreed, standing up as well with nutrient paste in hand. "I'll talk to Kirva later about the tools, Captain."

"Thank you, Lenlo." I nodded, placing my plate and utensils in the sink so I could begin cleaning them.

Once Lenlo was out of earshot, Dimitri came up behind me.

"What do you really think of Collectors?" He asked in a slightly hushed tone, looking over my shoulders as I washed.

"I think they're a threat." I answered in a deadpan, looking at him with a much more serious face. "Just from the rumors alone, they are into some twisted shit. Buying people off of slavers and crime lords… it sickens me. Who knows what happens to those poor people that are taken."

"Remember that old story that was going around Fleet shortly after we arrived?" He asked, taking a plate out of the cabinet.

"No, what story?" I inquired, leaning on the countertop as I looked harder at him.

"Apparently, a quarian named Golo tried to sell his own crewmembers to Collectors a decade ago in exchange for tech." Dimitri explained, as I listened intently. "Luckily, the Admirals at the time discovered his treachery and had him banished."

"Serves him right." I remarked, walking back to the coffee maker and pouring another cup. "If it were up to me, I would have had that asshole blown out into space."

Dimitri nodded in agreement as we silently ended the conversation.

I walked to the elevator, selecting the CIC and waiting a minute for the slow, slow elevator to ascend. Once there, I quickly walked over to the bridge. My quiet little happy place on this ship. I began playing Jón Hallur's "Below the Asteroids" from the EVE Online soundtrack, immediately setting the mood.

Outside, there was a flurry of activity. Our ship was docked to the western side of the ODP, and provided a great view of the current progress. The entire main ring of the station was mostly finished by this point, though it had yet to be pressurized or stocked with utilities. In the center of the station, the engineers who had volunteered were working away at the base of the gun, putting together the gigantic recoil mechanism.

I was up here with Dimitri, Dan, Powell, and the rest of our quarian crew today specifically to meet Rael's daughter, Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She had apparently gotten back from her Pilgrimage last week, and was looking to have some kind of encrypted Geth data files looked at. I hadn't heard much, but supposedly she had been on the SSV _Normandy_, Commander Shepard's ship. This was big, I remember. She was actually mentioned in one of those Alliance News Network reports a few months ago.

While I expected everything to go fine, I was still worried down deep inside that I might screw something up. This was the Admiral's daughter, after all.

Luckily, that wouldn't be for a few more hours. That gave me more time to prepare, and more time to inspect the inside of the station.

After finishing my second cup of coffee and looking over the latest reports, I donned my EVA suit and walked through the airlock after letting it cycle. All background noise disappeared as soon as the oxygen had been vented.

The artificial gravity had been turned on, much to my delight. Just thinking about the sensation of plopping around in mag boots brought back memories of darkness and broken toes. I opted for a full walkthrough of the station in its current state just for the hell of it. Besides, no better way to clear my thoughts than to wander around in silence.

Once at the end of the cradle, I made my way down the hallway, passing several other closed airlocks. The quarians were truly masters at shipbuilding. Even with a set amount of resources, they've managed to make everything look seamless. Not a single panel looked out of place, despite what impressions one could get from looking at their older ships. It was gorgeous.

Due to the lack of windows, we set up a little map system to help guide people around. It looked a lot like one you'd see in a mall, to be honest. Each of the eight sections, not including the gun itself, were color-coded and labeled very specifically. Currently, I was between sections Gamma and Delta. Delta led towards the Command Center, while Gamma led to the Recoil System. I chose the Command Center, where I could possibly check out the security systems.

These habitats were going to be two floored to accommodate surplus crew. It was very barren at the moment, due to the lack of oxygen. Once the station was pressurized, a few of the rarely seen quarian botanists would arrive and plant some dextro-amino plants here to not only provide surplus food, but to make it feel more friendly and cut down on noise pollution.

The shuttle bay, like all the others, was filled to the brim with supplies all for construction. Even this early in the morning, volunteers were still here using civilian-grade exos to move crates to the tram line that ran the entire length of the station. It was cluttered, but it felt like progress. I even got a few waves from them, of which I returned.

Next stop was the Command Center, which already had guard postings. My hope is that this place will be like Fort Knox by the time it's fully finished. Each side of this section has walls that are four feet thick with hardened titanium plates. In order to get inside, you needed both guard's unique access code which would change every day once the actual gun was functional.

Once inside, you are greeted with tons of holographic displays all giving highly specific information on what it's assigned to do. I designed it so no single person would ever be able to operate the MAC gun by themselves. Even if that did somehow happen, I secretly installed a V.I. that's sole purpose is to prevent the gun from being aimed at Reach. It was too dangerous to risk just one failsafe.

About an hour later, I made it back to the _Explorer_, finally able to take in a fresh breath of recycled air. Yay.

I began going over the itinerary with Powell, who was very interested himself to see what these Geth data files could reveal. He obviously had to leave his body behind for this occasion, but we had already informed Rael beforehand that he would be helping decrypt these files.

"So, I'm supposed to act like a V.I. when she's around, right?" He asked, looking at me with crossed arms from the hologram projector.

"Yeah, according to what I've heard, she's been involved with fighting a lot of Geth over the last few months." I confirmed, nodding as I checked our schedule. "The last thing we need is some sort of panic around here."

"Agreed." He said, nodding back to me.

Before I could say anything else, the elevator door popped open, revealing Kirva, who had two collapsed rifles tucked underneath her arm.

"Oh, hey Captain." She greeted before quickly walking back towards the armory.

"Uh… what are you doing with those?" I asked, getting up and following her.

"I've been running routine check-ups on every rifle in the ship's inventory." She explained as we walked into the armor where she had set up.

In here, the bare walls were adorned with handwoven fabrics that Kirva had set up. In the left corner near the back of the room, there was a simple hammock set up between the walls that she slept in, despite all the space.

The walls that weren't covered in fabric were instead loaded to the brim with various firearms. Most of them were already here in the first place, though she had added a few others herself since becoming a member of my crew. The wall included Alliance mainstays such as the M-8 Avenger and the M-3 Predator, mercenary favorites like the M-15 Vindicator and the M-6 Carnifex, and the strange one she had brought back from her Pilgrimage, a krogan weapon known as a Graal Spike Thrower.

It was apparently designed for hunting Thresher Maws, and fired large flechettes meant to rip into targets and cause blood loss. It was a mean looking weapon, and I certainly hoped I'd never have to see Kirva use it.

"I found these two Mattocks below deck in storage, so I decided to add them to my to-do list." She finished, plopping them down on the table. "And… sorry about using your tools. I misplaced my socket wrench, so I borrowed yours."

"That fine, but… I think those belong to Dimitri." I pointed out, looking at the Mattocks as she pulled her tool chest out from under her hammock.

"They are?" She questioned, stopping in her tracks.

"Yeah, he's the only one who uses them." I remarked with wider eyes, picking one up and extending it. "If you want to clean and calibrate them, I'd recommend talking to him first."

"Alright, thanks." She acknowledged quickly, running back out the door to find him.

I just shook my head with a small smile, setting the rifle back down and walking away.

…

MFV _Explorer_, September 12th, 1:20 PM, 2183

…

Dimitri and Dan flanked behind my left and right respectively as I waited for the airlock to finish cycling. On the other side of that door was the Admiral's daughter. I was determined that nothing would go wrong during all of this.

"Ease up, Sean." Dimitri said, giving me a small poke in the back. "She's not royalty, she's just like everyone else around here."

"Yeah, I know." I replied, letting a bit of an exhale out as I allowed myself to relax slightly.

The airlock finally finished cycling, revealing Tali'Zorah. She wore a multi-toned purple envirosuit covered in swirls. It looked almost brand new compared to most envirosuits I've seen. She even had a knife strapped to her left boot, which I found odd.

"Greetings, Tali'Zorah vas Neema." I greeted with a firm handshake and a head nod. "Welcome to my ship, the _Explorer_."

"Thank you, Captain Michaels." She accepted, looking up and down the neck of the CIC. "I've heard a lot about your team over the last two days."

"From your father, I presume?" I asked, causing her to cock her head slightly to the left.

"No, from Aun- Admiral Shala'Raan." She corrected with a bit of a stutter. "Why do you ask?"

"I just thought he might have mentioned us, considering how much he talks about you." I answered with a bit of a smile. "You know, the whole "home on the homeworld" thing?"

"That sounds like him, all right." She agreed, nodding slightly as she took a chip-sized device out of her pocket. "So, you three think you can break the encryption on this data I found?"

"Well, we can certainly try our best, Miss Zorah." Dimitri assured, bowing slightly.

"Alright, let's get to it." I finished, as we walked through the CIC into the old communications suite.

This place had been gutted and repurposed as a science lab after the retrofitting we had done on our ship. No one really used it much now that we had our own facility again, but occasionally Biss would come in here to use the mass spectrometer for his Eezo tests.

"Alright Dan, see what you can do." I encouraged as we all gathered around the console. Tali placed the drive in the scanning zone as Powell secretly waited for us to make the connection.

"Here g-goes nothing." He remarked, beginning the scan. Several minutes passed before we got a proper connection, which seemed unusual. We haven't had to spend this much time accessing Geth systems before.

"_The encryption on this data drive is incredibly strong_." Powell commented in my earpiece as I looked up at the single camera in the corner of the room. "_This might take a while_."

I gave a silent nod of confirmation before looking back to the console.

The data scrolling down the screen in front of Dan was very dense. He was trying his best to break into the drive's contents, but even with Powell's help it was difficult. Twenty minutes later, Dan looked bewildered.

"You weren't k-kidding, this thing is sealed tig…tight." Dan remarked to Tali, as he turned around to face the rest of us.

"_Why don't you get them out of there for a while?_" Powell suggested in my ear as I looked back to the camera. "_I can work on it for a whi… wait a minute…_"

I looked to the screen as he corrected himself, seeing actual files beginning to form.

"We broke it!" Tali remarked with happiness clear in her voice.

"Alright, let's see what we have here…" Dan said out loud with newfound energy, as he began to sort through the information. Luckily, Powell had already converted everything to formats that we could understand.

There was a lot of stuff here, some of which I couldn't really understand. Even after its conversion, some of it was still in binary, thus unreadable to a sane person.

"What the hell is this?" I asked, pointing to a design schematic of some kind.

Dimitri, Tali, and Dan all leaned forward to look harder at it, before Tali pulled back to look at me.

"It looks like some kind of… walker?" Tali hypothesized, looking hard at me. "But this isn't a Geth design. It looks nothing like an Armature or Colossus."

"Look at this." Dan said, pointing to an insignia at the bottom. "This is a Turian Hierarchy e-emblem."

"Why would Geth have Turian designs?" Dimitri asked out loud, rubbing his beard.

"These are the same Geth that allied themselves with a Turian SPECTRE." I remarked, looking at all three of them. "That slime ball must have used his contacts to steal it."

I then looked farther down the list, seeing something that actually made me slightly sick to my stomach.

"What the fuck is that?!" I exclaimed, almost yelling as the picture was maximized.

It looked like some sort of zombie. It was a dilapidated human being filled to the brim with disgusting cybernetics that covered their entire bodies. Its face was twisted in pain, permanently fixed. I had never seen something so disturbing outside of movies or video games.

"That's a husk." Tali answered in a calm manner, leaning back up and crossing her arms.

We all turned around to face her immediately.

"I fought them while traveling with Shepard." She explained, taking a seat on one of the chairs behind us. "Saren was using these large spikes to impale people, steal nutrients from their bodies, and fill them with these disgusting cybernetics. They were then used as shock troops that charge your position in battle."

"That's h-horrifying." Dan remarked, looking disturbed. "And the Geth made these?"

"No, they didn't look like something the Geth would create. Besides, they have no need for the resources found inside bodies, they're machines." She worked out, looking harder at Dan.

"So the Reapers then?" Dimitri questioned, causing her to flip her head around to face her.

"You know about them?" She replied, causing Dan and Dimitri to silently nod their heads.

"We've had our suspicions over the last few months, but they came to fruition after the Battle of the Citadel." I began, taking a seat across from her. "You know what we're building back there?"

"It's a space station, right?" Tali replied with a small amount of confusion in her voice.

"Mostly. We're building the largest mass accelerator cannon in history back there, and when it's finished, it'll be capable of destroying any ship in the galaxy." I went over, letting a small smile cross my face before going on. "Officially, it's being built to protect Reach in case the Geth ever try to attack, but… we're hoping that the sheer power behind it will be enough to kill Reapers."

She simply looked dumbfounded by my explanation for the longest time.

"I don't know how you convinced the Admirals and my father to let you build this, but I am impressed." She admitted, standing up and shaking my hand.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I nodded back, looking to the computer once more. "Do you mind if we make a copy of this data before we give the original back?"

"No at all. Go ahead." She agreed, waving her hand casually.

I nodded to the camera as soon as she turned her head. Powell immediately started downloading the petabytes worth of information, making copies of it to our secure server.

"So, I have a different kind of question." I began, looking back to her as we walked back into the CIC. "Is the Alliance using our reactor and jump drive configuration?"

"They are, but it's not quite the same." She answered, walking over to the center where the holographic projection of the _Explorer_ was. "They've found a way to minimize the system down, but at the loss of the actual Gravity drive. The one the Alliance is currently introducing doesn't have the accuracy or running time of yours."

"Sounds like those m-morons neglected to use a proper magnetic f-field generator." Dan remarked with a small smile. "I remember Jack t-telling me about the low-power te…tests they ran on Jump Zero. Apparently, they ended up a-atomizing two ships before they could even g-get on that put the ship 1,000 miles near its tar…target destination."

"It doesn't matter, that just means we're doing everything right so far." I replied, looking back to him before returning to Tali. "Also, has there been any chatter at all about us, anything with the quarians? Anything at all that could be considered suspicious?"

"There have been a few "rumors" going around about a noticeable decrease in the size of the Flotilla, but that's about it as far as I could see." She reported, looking between the three of us before pausing for a few moments. "Actually, I think you were mentioned in a conversation between Shepard and Admiral Hackett."

"Hackett, really?" Dimitri inquired further, leaning against a console.

"Yes, he mentioned a "science team that went missing two years ago" when talking to Shepard about a Cerberus facility we raided in an attempt to find Rear Admiral Kahoku." Tali recalled, getting very quiet before looking back to us. "Cerberus had murdered his men, and when he went to investigate, we found his body among some creatures they were experimenting with."

"Cerberus killed him?" Dimitri questioned, looking distraught.

"We believe so." Tali nodded back to him, as he turned around and walked into the elevator without a word.

"Is he OK?" She quickly asked once the door was shut, sounding worried.

"He served alongside Kahoku during the Skyllian Blitz." I replied in a quieted tone, crossing my arms as I stared at the door he went through. "Even if some of the higher-ups in the Alliance are dirt, Kahoku was a good man."

She simply nodded in silence, as we all stood there for a few seconds without a word.

"Alright, well… I hope this data will help the Admirals." I finished, nodding to her. "Have a good day, Tali'Zorah."

"Thank you, Captain. I wish you the same. Keelah se'lai." She finished, walking back through the airlock to parts unknown.

I remained silent for a few more moments before looking back to Dan.

"You should probably go check on Dimitri, that news seemed to hit him hard." I encouraged, nodding my head towards the elevator.

"Sure thing." Dan agreed, running off and leaving me alone.

I plucked my earpiece out, walking back into the bridge once more. I quietly sat down, staring back into the deep dark, thinking about those files I had seen.

If there was any doubt about the Reapers before, there was none now.

…

**A/N: Progress has slowed down a bit, seeing as how my summer break has long ended. But, I'm back in gear and rejuvenated. This chapter was a little slower than usual, but hey, we got to meet Tali, so that's a plus! There was no harm in including her at some point, and it made sense for Powell to be the one decrypting the Geth files, seeing as how he knows how they operate.**

**Things might end up getting slightly slower from this point on, not in the actual writing department, but in the story one. Now I have the two year gap in between ME1 and ME2 to contend with, but I'll find a way to make it interesting. If I get bogged down, I may end up doing a few little time jumps, but I'm going to endeavor to keep those to a minimum.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	20. Ascension

…

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death."

(Robert Fulghum)

…

Serenity Valley, October 11th, 7:59 PM, 2183

…

"So… It was an awful job, working as a traffic controller, but it did have its moments." Jack reminisced, as we all listened intently. "One of the pilots in the shuttles waiting to depart shouts "I'm fucking bored!" into the channel, causing our specialist to shout "Last shuttle transmitting, identify yourself immediately!" They replied back with "I said I was fucking bored, not fucking stupid!"

I laughed once more at Jack as he told us another one of his old stories. All of us were sitting outside, enjoying a few beers in celebration of my 31st birthday. The crew had managed to scrounge up enough supplies to make me a small cake. No icing or candles, but still incredibly good for being out in what was essentially the middle of nowhere.

They had all surprised me with this after returning home from Dolor. I had honestly forgotten that it was my birthday, but they sure didn't. The presents were proof enough of that.

Lydia, Richard, and Powell got me a physical copy of the original Fallout, which they had heard me praising a few months ago. It was still in its original CD case, and thanks to modern scanner technology, I'd never have to open it. It had been a few years since I've played video games, so this would be refreshing.

Jack and Sira went through the effort of finding me a new Tiger I schematic poster to replace the one I lost on Aldrin. They remembered it being proudly mounted on my wall there, and knew I was a fan of old, German tanks from the Second World War.

Lenlo, Kirva, and Biss all pitched in to make me a beautiful, woven quilt in my favorite color, green. It was rather large compared to the one's I've normally seen, though. I suppose they wanted it to be more unique for this occasion. It featured an _Explorer_-shaped crest in the middle, which I really liked.

Dan and Dimitri pulled out all the stops for me. They somehow managed to get their hands on a M1911A1 handgun. The famous, all-American Colt 45 semi-automatic pistol, designed by John Browning, and featuring his tried and true short-recoil system. They even got a leather shoulder holster to go with it.

"Where did you two find this?" I asked with a wide-eyed expression, holding it carefully as I looked over the gunmetal grey firearm. On the slide, the Latin term "Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat" was laser engraved, meaning "Fortune favors the brave."

Dan added that. No question about it.

"All you need to know is that it wasn't easy." Dimitri remarked with a smile, putting his hand on my shoulder. "This isn't modern reproduction, either. This is Vietnam-era. I added a threaded barrel so you could use silencer."

"It's n-not a shitty conversion to m-mass accelerator mechanics either. It's gunpowder city." Dan quipped, pulling out four small boxes of 45. caliber ammunition. "Enjoy, dude."

I nodded to him without a word, opening one of the boxes, ejecting the empty magazine from the 1911 and loading seven rounds into it. I then took the silencer and screwed it onto the barrel to remove the need for earplugs. Once the mag was inserted, I hit the slide release with my thumb, and was ready to rock and roll.

Dan grabbed one of our empty beer bottles and put it on the top of an old log. I took aim, lining up my shot before pulling the trigger. The bottle shattered into pieces as the round tore through it, sending a sharp crack through the air. The recoil felt just like it had all those years ago at that range in Jessup, Maryland.

"Bullseye!" I said with a big, dumb smile plastered on my face. I received a standard applause from everyone around me, making my smile grow even bigger.

I pulled the mag out and ejected the round that was in the chamber, thanking them both before looking around at Mara.

"My present is something special." She remarked with a small smile and crossed arms. "I'll show you later."

"OK then." I nodded back to her as we all began drinking again.

A whole hour passed before everything calmed down. Everyone had gone back to their housing units at varying levels of drunk, even Dan, who rarely drank alcohol. At that point, I was still only slightly buzzed, but if Mara's gift for me was another bottle of Jameson Irish Whisky like last year, that would change very fast.

I began to gather all my stuff to take back to me and Mara's humble little abode. I carefully folded the tapestry and threw it over my shoulder, while pocketing the 1911A1 and the copy of Fallout. I tucked the boxes of bullets and the poster under both arms respectively before making the short walk home.

When I opened the door, she wasn't in our normal living space. I could hear the faint sound of music coming from the other room, however. I put my gifts down on the table, walking over and opening the door.

I was not expecting what I saw at all.

Mara was sitting on our bed, wearing some black lingerie. It was a bra, some panties, and some stockings, all lacy with a maple leaf design on them. She had undone the bun her blond hair was usually in, letting it hang over her shoulders haphazardly. I wasn't paying much attention at the time, but I think she was playing Kaileda's Think in the background.

"Happy birthday, Captain." She said in an inviting, seductive tone, leaning towards me. "It wasn't easy to get ahold of this… so why don't you and I have some fun?"

Not a second had passed before I was already pulling off my shoes and socks, undoing my coat and pants and throwing it all to the floor. I jumped into the bed, embracing her as the lights went off.

This was the best birthday ever.

…

Cairo Station, November 21st, 9:28 AM, 2183

…

I checked over the reports flowing in from the build teams, scratching the side of my mask as I leaned back in one of the Command Center chairs. I thought about the name I had given the station, remembering that deep down, I was still a massive nerd.

Now that the station's primary support systems were in operation, progress had begun on the actual MAC gun. I had solved the loading mechanism issue by installing two miniature mass effect cores along the inside lining of the loader. These produced a field that lowered the overall mass of the actual mechanism, helping it move much faster and even boosting the charge that it could supply to the coils.

The magnetic coils themselves were the trickiest part of this whole process now. Each of the twelve oversized coils had to be lined up perfectly inside the barrel, otherwise the round could veer off in the wrong direction, possibly right into the inside of the barrel. Each one had to be made out of a very specific length of copper, with a highly focused iron core. If any of them were not built properly, the gun would be underpowered.

I wanted to one-shot anything that enters this system. Can't do that with defective coils.

The crew of the MFV _Odkrycie_, which was an old Turian cruiser harkening back to their early spaceflight days, recently volunteered to be the first crewmembers to occupy the station. Their ship had been irreparably damaged by asteroids during a scouting mission out near the Nemean Abyss. With how badly their ship was damaged, they were lucky to return at all.

Their crew consisted of 683 people, not counting children. That would leave 1,317 open slots left on the station's official crew roster once they were all settled in. If there was ever an emergency in the Fleet and we needed to take in more than that, we could harbor at least 4,000 more if we made use of the cargo bays and all the other open spaces. I hoped it would never come to that.

The station had been pressurized two weeks ago much to my delight and the delight of the old _Odkrycie _crew. They had begun moving in, and were actually having a difficult time adjusting to the new accommodations. I doubt any of them have ever seen this much open space inside a space vessel.

I gave the old captain, Cyi'Keno vas Odkrycie, the tremendous job of being the one in charge of the station. He had a good background, too. Successfully fought off a lot of pirate attacks over the last eight years, tactically-minded, and was well liked by his crew. He was perfect for this.

I packed my personal datapad back into my rucksack as I got up to go on another walk. This had become a normal routine for me. Every Monday morning I took a shuttle up to Cairo Station to do another walk of the entire station's interior. It was always a peaceful experience for me, going through to see what small changes had been made.

I walked into Habitat Alpha, seeing that everyone from the _Odkrycie_ was settling in nicely. Traditional quarian quilts now covered the walls of the living quarters, doing a surprisingly good job at dampening the sound in the general area. Botanists from one of the Liveships were also here planting some dextro-amino plants. They were quite simple, but would provide a good source of oxygen and help filter carbon dioxide out of the air.

They also looked quite nice. The idea of gardens on space vessels really grew on me during the time I spent in the Fleet. Thinking harder about the Fleet itself, I began pondering some recent statistics in my head.

About 3/5ths of the Flotilla were equipped with Reach Systems by this point, ever since we began assisting the Quarians. All the core ships in the Fleet, including the Liveships, had the system now. The major focus at the moment was on fleet cruisers, then focus would be shifted to frigates. According to rates projected by Lydia, the entire fleet, not counting smaller ships, would be equipped with our system by the end of 2185.

That estimate actually worried me. If the Admirals believed the Reach System would be a big enough advantage, they would likely attack the Geth in a last ditch effort to reclaim their homeworld. I still didn't know how I felt about the issue. While I understood what the Quarians were going through, Richard insisted that the Geth weren't bad, and I had no reason to deny his assessment. They had saved his life, after all.

I shook the thought out my head, continuing on my walk.

Once at the southern portion of the station, I hopped into the main cargo elevator that spanned the entire length of the MAC. I took it down a few floors to investigate the main reactor. The doors opened, revealing a room drenched in a flickering blue glow.

The Nemo-Michaels reactor we installed on this station was much larger than the normal, shipboard ones we've used. It was scaled up to provide more power for the MAC exclusively. The standard reactor in its Mark II configuration generated roughly 2.9 petawatts of electricity an hour if running at full blast. This one was capable of producing 4.4 petawatts in the same conditions.

The MAC takes an incredible amount of electricity to function, mostly to charge the coils. If we went with dual NM reactors, there was a chance that the station could experience brownouts when operating in combat situations. It was easier just to enlarge our older design for this purpose.

Just as I was about to take the elevator down further to investigate progress on the loading mechanism and ammo storage, my omni-tool began playing "Dating Start!" from the Undertale soundtrack.

Lydia was calling me.

"Hello Lady Mohawk." I greeted with a small smirk on my face.

"_You know I hate that nickname_." She replied back in an unamused tone, as I barely kept myself from chuckling. "_My brother and Dimi are both asking when you'll be back. They want to discuss those turian walker schematics with you._"

"Alright, tell them I'll be at the lab in about half an hour." I said, hopping in the elevator once more.

"_Will do._" She finished, cutting the line a second later.

As the elevator began moving, I started to think of other kinds of ammunition we could make for the MAC to fire. Considering the significant force the thing already put behind the rounds, there was only one, highly dangerous alternative I could think of.

If we could find a good source of Uranium and enrich it, we would be capable of constructing a gun-type nuclear round suitable for long-range engagements on large masses of ships. When firing, the two fissile materials wouldn't make contact with one another, separated by a safety pin. When colliding with a target, however, the two ends would hit each other, becoming instantly critical.

It wouldn't have that large of a yield, considering it would only be a Uranium composition, but the nuclear explosion and the following EMP would effectively cripple an invading force. It would never happen, though. Not only would it be incredibly difficult to work with, radiation and all, but if the Council even got a scent of nuclear energy, they would descend on us without a moments notice.

As soon as I stepped into the southwestern end of the station where my shuttle was docked, my omni-tool began beeping again. This time, it was a priority vidcall from Admiral Han'Gerrel of all people.

"Hello Admiral." I greeted, wiping a smudge mark off of my faceplate. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"As a matter of fact, there is." He said, looking me directly in the eyes. "We've been dealing with an odd situation here in the Fleet, and we'd like you have you here to help."

"What kind of situation are we talking about?" I prodded further, my eyebrows jumping up into the air.

"One of our own, Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya, returned from their Pilgrimage three days ago, but their gift is rather… unusual." He said slowly, likely thinking about how to phrase his words. "He brought three humans with him, an adult male, adult female, and a young girl. We currently have them under quarantine."

"So why do you want me there?" I asked, beginning to get a little suspicious. "How am I supposed to help?"

"One of these humans, the woman, is Kahlee Sanders, and Alliance scientist who has been rumored have worked on synthetic intelligence in the past, much like your colleague, Dr. Karpyshyn." He explained, looking off to the side for a few seconds before looking back. "We wanted to invite you on as a Conclave representative, perhaps help us connect to her on that unique, "human" level."

I stood in silence for a few moments, pondering his request.

"Can I bring my crew with me?" I inquired, looking hard at him.

"You can bring one of your crew with you." He replied in a sterner tone. "So, will you join us?"

I paused again, just for a second.

"Alright, I'll be your rep." I agreed, nodding slightly. "What time do you want us there?"

"Raan and I, along with two other representatives from the Conclave will depart from the _Rayya_ in two hours for the _Idenna_." He finished, nodding back to me in approval. "Thank you, Captain."

"Your welcome, Admiral." I said, as the screen went dark.

I simply stood there for a minute, thinking about every possibility in my head. The meeting wasn't going to take place on the Rayya, which I thought was kind of odd, but instead on Captain Mal's ship. I pondered the reasons behind this before flicking the omni-tool back on.

"Lydia?" I called, connecting to her after a few seconds.

"_Yes Sean?_" She replied back in her usual tone.

"Tell Dan and Dimitri that something's come up, and tell Mara to get back to the homestead for a pickup." I ordered, beginning my walk back to the shuttle. "We're taking the _Explorer_ back to the Fleet."

"_What's going on?_" She inquired, sounding very curious all of the sudden.

"I'll tell you later, just make sure you and Mara are ready to go by the time I'm there." I finished, hopping into the old shuttle we had stolen from the Blue Suns.

I really hoped this didn't turn into another SNAFU.

…

MFV _Explorer_, November 21st, 10:54 AM, 2183

…

I was seated in the Captain's chair, thinking about the upcoming meeting in my head over and over again. Mara was seated to my left in the communications chair, while Lenlo manned the pilot's station. Lydia was secretly in the ship's computer systems, looking over everything as we made our approach to the Fleet. Both of them had been briefed on the current situation.

I had made sure to wear my nicest, clean lab coat for this meeting, along with my old green knitted sweater underneath of it for warmth. I was also wearing one of my many pairs of jeans with my combat boots. Mara thought it was silly to wear them together, but I liked it.

She was wearing a lab coat as well, though underneath of it she wore a blue long-sleeved V-neck shirt. Below that, she wore a simple, black long skirt with a matching pair of flats. Her hair was tied into its usual bun, considering she hadn't changed it before we left.

I took my Colt 1911 out of its shoulder holster, making sure the slide still moved back and forth easily before putting it back in. I had made a habit out of keeping it with me whenever I went out somewhere. Call me paranoid.

The moment we were within range, I stood up and opened a line with Fleet control.

"This is Sean'Michaels vas Explorer, requesting permission to dock with the _Rayya_." I said, staring ahead at the grey cloud that was the Fleet once more.

"_Confirmed. Please transmit access codes._" The controller requested, as I leaned forward to transmit our current codes.

"Life is like sand, drifting through the wind." I said, sitting slightly straighter as I waited for a reply.

"_Permission granted. Welcome back, Captain_. _Please approach docking cradle 9. The Admirals are waiting for you at Bay 17_." The controlled replied, as I nodded to the voice in approval.

"Thank you." I finished before Mara closed the connection.

"Just a regular day, huh?" Mara remarked, looking back at me before getting up from her station.

"So far." I replied, crossing my arms and letting out a small puff of air before throwing my mask back on. "Lenlo, you are in charge until we get back."

"Yes sir." He nodded back to me before a thump resonated through the hull.

Mara and I hopped into the airlock, letting the decon cycle a bit longer to reduce the chance of contamination. My mask was outfitted with a small, side-mounted LED flashlight, along with an automated GUI and a green paint job. Mara's was red, and had a built-in datapad display.

Even though my friends and I were effectively neutered germ-wise by this point and didn't need suits, we still made the effort to wear our protective masks on quarian vessels as a sign of respect and decency. I imagined it could possibly annoy those who weren't used to being around us, like our lab volunteers back on Reach.

I also liked how I haven't had a cold in two years.

"Lydia, anything unusual on the comms?" I asked in the isolation of the airlock, looking to the camera.

"No, nothing that I can pick up." She replied, sounding perplexed.

"Alright, well keep an eye out just in case." I said, looking back to Mara. "You still feeling good about this?"

"I feel fine, I don't know what you're so anxious about." She replied in a slightly mocking tone, before giving me a playful shove. "Lighten up a bit."

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed, taking a few deep breaths to return my heart rate to normal.

I stepped out of the airlock, already knowing the way to Bay 19. Ironically, it was the same bay we docked in after our little encounter with the Blue Suns in Sigurd's Cradle. We passed one of the trading areas on our way through, the subdued sounds of idle conversations and small items clinking together readily apparent despite the heavy footfalls of my boots.

Once there, we could see that Admirals had pulled out the _Lestiak_, their oversized VIP shuttle. It was big enough to fit a full sized conference setup, along with the Admirals and select members of the Conclave. It wasn't very often that they used it. As a matter of fact, the last time I remember seeing them use it was when they first visited the Klenot system after our encounter with Cerberus.

That must have been why they would only let me bring one other person with me.

"Ah, glad you finally arrived, Captain." Raan greeted, giving both me and Mara a firm handshake. "We are ready to depart."

"Let's get to it, then." I said, following her into the shuttle where everyone else was.

The ride over to the Idenna was strangely quiet, which was odd, especially with this many officials in the same room. Gerrel and Raan were the only two Admirals here, but the Conclave representatives consisted of two Captains I could not name off the top of my head. I had seen them before, but didn't know them on a named basis. I sat near the edge of the table, across from the Admirals, while Mara stood silently in the back. All in all, there were seven of us here, not counting the guards behind us. A minute later, I felt a thump go through the shuttle as we landed inside the old batarian Hensa-class cruiser.

I nervously tried to straighten the wrinkles out of the bottom of my lab coat before the door on the other end of the shuttle opened, revealing Captain Mal and the three "guests" in ill-fitting envirosuits. They walked to the center, sitting down in front of us.

"I would like you to meet Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tombay, Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, Captain Daro'Zen vas Moreh, Captain Carra'Nol vas Shellen, and Captain Sean'Michaels vas Explorer." Captain Mal introduced, moving down the line until he finished at me.

While I couldn't see her face, I could tell she focused on each one of us, especially me. Her body language seemed normal, though it certainly wasn't relaxed. I couldn't blame her, she had apparently been brought back as some odd Pilgrimage gift.

"Kahlee Sanders, do you understand why we have brought you here?" Gerrel started off, folding his hands on the table in front of him.

"You think I might know something about Saren Arterius and how he was able to control the Geth," She replied in a calm tone, standing straighter.

Her answer had actually surprised me, suddenly bringing back a flood of thoughts. If that was what Saren had actually done, then that would explain the schism between the "heretic" Geth and the rest of them behind the Veil.

The first line of questioning was fairly basic, as they asked her about her past affiliations with Saren and some research she had apparently done years ago, long before Dan and I ever came into the picture. I wasn't prepared for the next line, however.

"Have you ever heard of a species called the Reapers?" Gerrel asked, causing me to quickly turn my head and face him in sudden disbelief. I looked back at Kahlee to see her shake her head in acknowledgment.

The Admirals believed in the Reapers?

"There is word coming from the Citadel that Saren's flagship, Sovereign, was actually an advanced A.I." She replied, keeping a calm and collected posture going. "It was alive, just one of an entire race of enormous, sentient ships called the Reapers."

"Those are just rumors." The man in the envirosuit behind her interjected before I could ask for more information on the Reapers. "There's no proof to support those theories."

"But it could explain why the Geth followed Saren," Gerrel suggested in a tone akin to a rebuttal. "An advanced A.I. might have been able to override the Geth's rudimentary intelligence systems."

"I'm not quite sure about that, Admiral." I said, looking over to him as all eyes turned towards me. "If that was possible, our experiments would have come up with something like that by this point."

He knew I was referring to Powell.

"That's not proof of anything, Captain." Gerrel argued back to me as he focused exclusively on me for that moment. "Your colleague's little experiment might simply lack that kind of power."

While I believed he was entirely wrong, I held back on any rebuttals for the sake of the meeting.

"But if Sovereign was a Reaper, then there could be more of its kind." Daro'Xen argued, sitting back in her chair with crossed arms and a curious voice. "They could be lying dormant in unexplored regions of space, just waiting for someone to accidentally discover and awaken them."

Now I recognized her. She was the one that described my ODP as a "beauty" during my initial presentation to the Conclave a few months ago.

"Maybe," Kahlee replied with a shrug, seeming to me like she was simply confused.

"I'm pretty sure running around looking for a Reaper is one of the things we should not be doing." I argued once more, finding her proposition rather ridiculous. "Besides, you already have the Geth to worry about. People will start thinking we've created these things if we inadvertently unleash one."

The entire conversation devolved into speculation over the hair-brained idea of controlling a Reaper from that point on. I ended up filtering most of the drivel out, though I was still stuck on whether or not the Geth had willingly left with Saren, or were controlled. It was a troubling prospect either way, and both didn't bode well for my gut.

I ended up looking at the little girl, who looked to be around the age of 11 or 14. She fidgeted a lot in her seat, making odd hand gestures occasionally and looking at everything around her in a curious manner.

I recognized her behavior ticks. They were very similar to the ones I made when I was much younger, and a lot like the ones my late cousin David made. She was autistic.

As the meeting ended and the three guests left the shuttle, Gerrel called me and Mara over.

"What is wrong with you?" I started before he could, waving my hand in anger before forcing myself to simmer down. "Controlling the Reapers? Are you insane?"

"All we're doing is considering all the possibilities, Captain." Gerrel replied in an annoyed tone, crossing his arms. "We will retake the homeworld one of these days, one way or another."

I felt like I wasn't getting the whole explanation here.

"I wasn't even aware you and the rest of the Admiralty believed in the Reapers." I remarked, looking back at Xen as she spoke with Nol. "When were you planning on clueing the rest of us in?"

"To be honest, we didn't find it all that important at the time." He answered, arms still crossed. "If we had known you were involved with the subject, then we might have said something sooner."

I crunched up the corner of my mouth out of mild anger, taking a deep breath in and out before he spoke once more.

"Anyway, that wasn't the only reason why I wanted you to come here." Gerrel began, moving in closer to me. "While Captain Ysin'Mal is at the next Conclave with us, I'd like you and Dr. Ford to stay here on the _Idenna_ and keep them company for a while."

"You want us to try and ween more information out of them." I guessed, causing Gerrel's body language to shift from confident to annoyed in a matter of seconds.

"I didn't say that." He replied in a sterner tone, pointing at me in an accusing manner. "Either way, this isn't a request this time, Captain. It's an order."

I looked down slightly as I realized the position I had just put Mara and myself into.

"We're not spies, Admiral." Mara argued, taking a few steps forward. "You expect us to just sit here and ask questions all day?"

"No, just talk about the Fleet, explain our culture from your point of view, and keep them comfortable until the Conclave has ended. That's all I ask for." He explained in a slightly more sympathetic tone, looking hard at both of us.

I weighed the options in my head for a moment, before realizing that there really were none.

"Fine, I suppose we'll stay here for a while." I reluctantly agreed, letting out another sigh of air.

"I'm glad we could see eye-to-eye, Captain." Gerrel remarked, looking harder at me before leaning back. "Do a good job. Good luck."

"Yes sir." I finished, as the two of us walked out into the shuttle bay to see the three walking away.

Taking a quick peek around to see if anyone was within earshot, I quickly opened up our channel with Lydia.

"Hey, it turns out we'll be over here or the Idenna for a while." I said into my omni-tool without addressing anyone. "Keep an eye on things while we're gone."

I received a confirmation ping back, nodding to the green light as I looked back to Mara.

"Sorry I dragged you into this, I should have known there was more to this." I apologized as we slowly began walking to catch up with Kahlee and the two other people with her.

"It's alright, you had no way of knowing." She accepted, bumping her helmet against mine in a mild show of affection. "Let's hope our new guests are conversationalists."

I smiled back at her, despite the mask, as we ran up to the group as they neared the end of the shuttle bay.

This was either going to be really interesting or horribly awkward and hostile. Or both, depending on what came first.

…

**A/N: So, Sean turns 31, things get a little hot and heavy between him and Mara, and the events of Mass Effect: Ascension go into effect. The future holds many interesting things, for those of you who read Ascension. If you haven't, don't feel left out. Will Sean and Mara learn anything interesting? Will they bond with Kahlee and the others, or will things become frosty and hostile?**

**The progress is slow, but steady! I've been having a blast writing as of late, now that I've gotten back into the groove of things. I've got interesting plans for future chapters, but first Sean and Mara need to get through Ascension.**

**Also, I've realized that I've been more than a little vague as to the location of the Klenot system. It is located somewhere between the Rosetta Nebula and the Pylos Nebula if you were to draw a line between the two. It's in a fairly empty region of space, meaning it's a good distance from everything.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	21. Onslaught

…

"Too many people have opinions on things they know nothing about. And the more ignorant they are, the more opinions they have."

(Thomas Hildern)

…

MFV _Idenna_, November 21st, 11:38 AM, 2183

…

Mara and I both waited for a good moment to introduce ourselves to Kahlee Sanders and her friend. We decided on waiting until they had returned to their shuttle. We stood near the back of the shuttle bay, trying to think of a good reason to engage in dialogue. Failing at that, I simply decided that we would not mention the Reapers, Saren, or the meeting we were just in unless prompted to do so.

"Doctor?" I asked, walking up to them as they neared their shuttle once more.

Both her and the man behind her flipped around to face me. I couldn't see their faces, but I imagined they were likely confused.

We both calmly walked over to them, stopping in front of them before I offered a handshake.

She looked between me, Mara, and my outstretched hand before reluctantly returning the gesture.

"Dr. Sean Michaels." I formally introduced, before sidestepping and allowing Mara through.

"Dr. Mara Ford." She mimicked, offering a handshake as well.

"Um, I'd like to apologize for that little… debacle back there on the_ Lestiak_, I had no idea they were going to be asking questions of that sort." I started, looking between her, the man, and the little girl, who looked very fidgety.

"What I want to know is why there are other humans here in the Fleet." She replied with crossed arms, looking harder at me.

"Yeah, why do you get the royal treatment?" The man asked, his posture expressing suspicion.

I looked back at Mara before turning back to face Kahlee.

"That's… a long story." I answered, folding my hands in front of my chest. "I'd be happy to tell it to you."

This time, Kahlee and the man looked to one another for confirmation.

"Alright, since we have nothing better to do, I suppose we'll listen to your story." She agreed, albeit with a hint of reluctance in her voice.

With that, we followed the three of them into the shuttle, seeing it had been recently decontaminated. It must have been wiped clean while they were at our little conference.

We all took seats inside of the shuttle, waiting until it sealed before taking our helmets off. The man began to have a calm argument with the little girl about taking her helmet off, while I sat forward slightly.

"So, I know your name." I informed Kahlee as she turned to face me. "Who are your other compatriots here?"

"That is Hendel Mitra, Security Chief of the Ascension Project, and the girl is Gillian Grayson, a promising young biotic." She introduced, despite the fact that they didn't notice.

"She has high-functioning autism, doesn't she?" I asked, actually causing her to cock her eyebrow in surprise. Even Mara looked surprised by my initial assessment.

"How did you know?" Kahlee asked, now looking very suspicious.

"I grew up with Asperger's Syndrome, wasn't diagnosed until I was twelve years old." I answered nonchalantly, looking over at her and Hendel. "I've only seen people like me or my friend Dan wriggle their fingers like that."

"Even I didn't know you had Asperger's Syndrome." Mara observed, scrutinizing me.

"Neither one of us really talk about it anymore." I admitted, looking harder at her. "I've always had problems with migraines, loud conversations and bright lights. Dan has his speech impediment, and used to have crippling social anxiety."

I looked back to Kahlee, who now seemed slightly more relaxed, but was keeping tabs on us for now.

"Anyways, we agreed to tell you how we got here, correct?" I asked, getting a nod from her in response.

"Well, the two of us and four others were originally part of an Alliance Task Force known as Cerebellum, working on an old space station that orbited Mercury. We developed groundbreaking technology to give the Alliance an edge over the other militaries, like the batarians and the turians." I started, leaning back in my seat as I thought back to the old days when we had a limitless budget and infinite ideas. "We worked on so much… developed a new type of power plant, and experimental jump drive, and even a new energy weapon that fires streams of condensed plasma."

I could hear Mara let out an amused puff of air, smiling as she thought back to the Plasma Gun developmental cycle.

"One morning, my buddy Dr. Dan Nemo discovers that someone on the station had been leaking station projects to an unknown source." I delved, thinking back to that faithful day. "Shortly after this, the station was brutally and viciously attacked by an unknown enemy force. They completely bypassed our defense grid and boarded the station. They then targeted me and the other project leads for capture, and killed everyone else."

"How did they board the station?" Kahlee asked, looking confused. "You were in the heart of Alliance space."

"I'll get to that, don't worry." I reassured, nodding slightly as I refocused myself. "Everyone had been captured, and I was injured by an explosion."

I lifted up my sweater, revealing the large four-inch long scar on my abdomen.

"It turns out that Cerberus had been the ones who attacked, looking to "procure" us and force us to work on technology for them." Mara continued, having experienced the worst of what Cerberus had to offer. "Over the course of a month, they threatened us, isolated us, and even tortured some of us in an attempt to get us to cooperate. In the end, despite everything, none of us broke."

"I was in an in-and-out coma during this time, still recovering from getting my abdomen pierced by a shard of metal." I carried on, as Hendel walked over to us with Gillian and sat down to listen. "I discovered during one of my moments of consciousness that our old Task Force leader, Major Lynda Embry, had been the one leaking out information the entire time. She was a Cerberus agent."

All three of them looked attentively at me as I told the story, even Gillian, who kept looking between me and Mara with curious eyes.

"After I had recovered enough, I managed to mount an impromptu escape, breaking my friends out and stealing back most of the technology they had stolen from Aldrin, including the ship equipped with our reactor and jump drive system." I began to teeter off, thinking once more of that fast escape we made. "After cautiously navigating the Terminus Systems, we reached Eden Prime, looking to make contact with the Alliance again."

"But the Alliance apparently had different ideas." Mara took over, letting out a small sigh before going on. "The Seventh Fleet was already waiting for us there, and opened fire on us as soon as we entered the system. We barely escaped."

"With nowhere left to go, we decided to seek out the Quarians, offering the technology onboard our ship in exchange for protection." I finished off, clasping my hands together as I leaned towards the table. "We joined the Fleet, I became a ship captain, and now here we are."

Kahlee looked very confused about something, and so did Hendel.

"Why didn't you go to the Citadel, or another Council race?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"We decided that they were too well connected to the Alliance. They could potentially turn us over to them." I argued, shrugging my shoulders slightly. "Frankly, we were incredibly scared and paranoid by this point. We eventually agreed that the Quarians were our best chance of staying hidden."

"Why would the Alliance outright attack you?" Kahlee inquired, sounding very angry all of the sudden. "That doesn't make any sense."

"We don't know!" I shot back, getting really defensive. "Admiral Parangosky just ordered the Seventh Fleet to launch all fighters and attack us at full force. That's it!"

"Wait, Admiral Parangosky?" Kahlee stopped suddenly, holding up her hand. "Her?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked, knowing it was my turn to be confused.

"She supposedly deserted sixteen months ago, taking several tons of drive core-grade Element Zero with her." She explained, looking harder at the two of us. "No one knows where she went."

My mouth hung open as I put the pieces together.

"She was with Cerberus the entire time!" I said out loud, almost yelling as I stood up and threw my hands behind my head. "God damn it…"

All our reasons for coming here in the first place had been false. Parangosky had used her position as an Admiral to trick good Alliance men and women into trying to kill us. All for Cerberus. I barely held myself back from exploding out into a storm of expletives as I began to pace back and forth inside of the shuttle.

After I had calmed down, I sat back down in my seat, suddenly feeling depleted of energy.

"Thank you for the information." Mara thanked, nodding to them. "We're going to be here on the _Idenna_ until the political crap boils over, so… would you like to talk about other things later?"

Kahlee thought over the offer for a few seconds, before nodding in agreement.

"Sounds interesting." She agreed, shaking our hands as we got up to leave.

I wanted to celebrate our little connection we had made here, but my mind was still too fraught with questions. I needed time to think.

…

MFV _Idenna_, November 24th, 5:12 PM, 2183

…

Over the last few days, we've had sporadic conversations with Kahlee, Hendel, and even Gillian, who was an incredibly shy girl. We talked about everything, from the quarians, the Geth, our tech, even our past experiences. It was an incredibly enlightening series of talks, and I enjoyed them very much.

She, Gillian and Hendel were part of this civilian biotics initiative known as the Ascension Project, hosted at Grissom Academy, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the modern world. There, they taught human kids how to control their biotic powers, gave them help reintegrating into society with their powers, and offered other things, such as family visits every once and a while.

Kahlee ran the program, keeping track of everything going on. She had apparently worked on A.I. research in the past, much like Richard, though it never went anywhere because of something that happened to her team's research facility. She really wasn't comfortable talking about it.

Hendel had been part of the first generation of biotics to come out of the human race. He had been part of a previous program known as Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training, known as BAaT for short. Later after serving in the Alliance military, he had joined the Ascension program as Security Chief.

Even after three days, I still knew very little about Gillian. She was quiet, introverted, and had occasional bursts of questions and energy. I had watched one of her biotic tutoring lessons with Hendel, realizing very quickly that she possessed far stronger biotics than the man himself. She could kick some ass if she ever wanted to.

I managed to get a cubical on the crew deck for me and Mara for the duration of our stay. It was small, cramped, and hard to move around in, but cozy and warm. The quarian that had brought Kahlee, Hendel and Gillian here, Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya, or Lemm'Shal vas Idenna now that his Pilgrimage was over, had been very friendly and accommodating towards us.

I got bored the second day since there was no repair issues to worry about, so I modified one of the ship speakers in our area to play music from the Skyrim soundtrack, specifically music that played in the Inns, such as "The Bannered Mare", "Around the Fire", and "A Winter's Tale". The atmosphere became surprisingly calm and quiet, causing several other people from rest of the ship to actually come to our specific section of the crew deck to listen.

Now it was our third day here. Captain Mal had returned the Idenna a few minutes ago, likely looking to speak with all of us again. Mara and I waited outside of the shuttle, wanting to be in a more open space as opposed to the cramped shuttle.

"They really liked that music you played yesterday." Mara said with an invisible smile and crossed arms.

"You think they did?" I replied in an amused tone, looking back over to her. "Maybe I should give them all a few copies to play for themselves. What do you-"

I immediately cut myself off as I saw Captain Mal and Lemm turn the corner, walking directly towards us.

"Hello again, Captain Michaels." Mal greeted as we each gave each other a vigorous handshake. "I'm sorry the Admirals confined you to my ship."

"Its fine, I needed to spend more time with other people anyways." I nodded back, letting myself relax slightly more. "The hospitality of your ship's crew has been splendid."

"That's good to hear." He nodded, looking off to the side for a second before looking back at me. "So, I'm guessing the Admirals haven't informed you as to what's been happening, have they?"

"No, they always seem to forget about us when factoring in their equations." I replied in my usual, annoyed tone.

"The Conclave has been in talks regarding the sustainability of our species." Mal explained, lowering his voice slightly as he moved in closer. "Despite all the advances your team has introduced, we're nearing the point where we can no longer sustain our ships. Several other captains and I are trying to make a push for the entire Fleet to move to the Klenot system, but others are afraid that a massive change on that level could destabilize the Fleet."

"How would that destabilize the Fleet?" I asked, honestly becoming confused. "Reach is a perfectly habitable world, even if it isn't dextro amino. Where does the issue lie?"

"The issue is that our ships are breaking down faster than we can equip them with your Reach System." He delved further, speaking slightly faster. "If we were to make the move to the Klenot system, we would either have to abandon two fifths of the Fleet's ships, or force them to make the journey in conventional FTL."

It was actually an extremely large conundrum to ponder the more it raced through my head. The entirety of quarian culture has revolved around ships for over two-hundred years. The loss of a ship was like the loss of a village, a whole community, here in the Fleet. Asking several hundred thousand people just to pack up their things and leave their ships was akin to heresy.

But, on the other hand, in the Klenot system, they would have a whole system to themselves, safe from anyone who didn't have a Reach System and filled to the brim with untapped resources. If they were to all make the move there, we could easily create shipyards, mining facilities, even cities. The quarians would have a hard time adjusting, but they would go on to prosper years down the line.

"I see." I replied with a single nod, now that I understood fully what the problem was.

"If we're ever going to survive, we need more support. Would you be interested in casting your vote in favor of the move?" Mal asked, standing very straight as I thought about it again for a few seconds.

"I will." I agreed, shaking his hand once again, this time with renewed enthusiasm.

"Thank you, Captain." He said, likely smiling under his mask.

He then went into the shuttle to tell Kahlee and the others something along the same line. I knew Kahlee was pissed about the way she was being used here, and I really couldn't blame her. Apparently, her word would have a large effect on the upcoming decision, and if Mal didn't have her support, then there was a very real chance that the idea could be rejected.

Before I could throw my support behind what Mal was talking about, the emergency sirens on the whole ship began to blare.

"Oh no." I said to myself, feeling myself shrink slightly as Mara stood up and moved closer to me. "That's not good."

"What's happening?" Kahlee shouted over the alarms, looking very angry.

Mal leaned his head to the side, listening to something before looking back to us.

"The _Cyniad_, one of our scout ships, just docked with us." He explained, speaking very fast. "They knocked out our tight-beam transmitter."

"Cerberus." Hendel said with a frown, looking harder at Captain Mal. "They're coming for Gillian."

"What about Isil's security team?" I asked, as Mal tilted his head again. He then shook his head.

"No response." He answered, giving us all the answer we dreaded.

We all decided to make a beeline to the trading deck, where there were weapons we could use against Cerberus. It was a defensible position too, where we could hopefully drive them back and keep them from getting to any other parts of the ship. Mara followed closely behind me, a fearful look readily apparent on her face.

"Listen to me, Mara." I focused, stopping and grabbing her arms as I looked into her eyes. "I want you to go up there with the rest of the civilians and hide. Keep an eye on Gillian if you can, but don't come out until it's safe."

"But what about you?" She asked, still looking scared.

"I'm going to join the defense." I answered as calmly as I could, throwing my lab coat to the ground as I pulled out my 1911. "I'll be alright, don't worry about me."

"Please, just come with me, Sean." She begged, grabbing my hand. "I'm scared something will happen to you."

"I'll come and find you." I reassured with a heightened tone, bumping her mask with mine as I let go of her hand. "GO!"

With that, she ran up the stairs with the rest of the civilians. Leaving me with Mal, Handel, Kahlee, and the rest of the security personnel. None of them were equipped with exos, or Plasma Guns, much to my confusion.

"Where are the Exos and Plasma Guns?" I questioned, looking harder at Mal.

"The exos are stored in the same bay that the _Cyniad_ arrived in." He answered through what sounded like gritted teeth, as we all took defensive positions. "Our Plasma Guns were sent to the wrong ship."

"Oh, for fuck sake!" I grunted out, clenching my fist tightly.

I checked my 1911, seeing it had seven rounds and the extra I pre-loaded into the chamber. Under my left arm, I had two more seven round clips stored in pouches. I disengaged the safety, taking cover behind a crate filled with various fabrics and sewing materials.

Not a whole thirty seconds passed before several grenades came flying through the doorway, exploding harmlessly in the open space, but throwing various goods into the air. Two armored Cerberus troops rushed into the room, taking cover behind a crate before Hendel moved it with biotics. Under our combined fire, they stood no chance. I fired two rounds, hitting the nearest one squarely in the helmet.

The next wave didn't go nearly as well, however. Three rushed in this time, and managed to find cover since Hendel had been drained. They bobbed and weaved through the maze of crates and lockers as they slowly gained ground over us. This wasn't good. These guys were heavily armed, better trained, and seemed particularly determined.

As I ducked back down behind my crate, I saw a small, cylindrical object fly though the air and land right at my feet.

"Grenade!" I shouted, quickly rolling myself over the top of the crate and onto the deck. I barely missed the brunt of the explosion, only getting a few splinters and some painful ringing in my ears. The same couldn't be said for one of Mal's men, though, who hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough. As the grenade exploded and flung shreds of fabric through the air, a chunk of the quarian's leg landed right next to my head, splattering blood onto my faceplate.

Banishing the horrific sight from my mind, I quickly shook my head and got back to my feet, charging to the side in an attempt to flank them. I realized Kahlee had the same idea, as we stacked on each other behind a row of lockers.

Two of the commandos were launched back by one of Hendel's biotic blasts, but then he himself was blown back in a similar manner. They had a biotic on their team. He hit the back wall, knocked out cold by the impact.

I quickly refocused myself, taking aim with my 1911 at one of the troops who hadn't noticed me yet. His barriers had just gone down, leaving him vulnerable to my primitive little gunpowder firearm. I fired four shots as fast as I could, trying to get a hit in before he could recharge.

I was lucky. Out of the four shots I fired, the fourth hit him square in the visor, shattering it and sending him to the floor, dead.

The other two troopers noticed this, and immediately began unloading on my position.

I ran like a bat out of hell trying to get away, only to fall and trip on debris. I landed behind another crate, looking over to see Mal calling for everyone to fall back to the deck above. Cerberus had broken through up there.

I filled my lungs and ran into the other stairway, knowing there was still at least one hostile behind me somewhere. I crept up the stairs, able to clearly hear the sounds of gunfire and screaming echoing down the hallways. Separated from the security team, I quickly popped out my magazine, knowing I only had two rounds left. I slid a full one into the weapon, hitting the slide release with a satisfying *clack*.

I turned the next corner to see several dead quarians, along with two dead commandos. They didn't look like they had been shot, based on the lack of bullet holes. They were more mangled, like a car crash victim. They had been killed with biotics.

I moved up closer to where the gunfire was coming from, seeing something that didn't initially register to me. I saw a quarian with two other commandos, firing on people who were hiding inside their cubicles. The screams vibrated through the hull, making me sick to the stomach. I had to do something.

I fired three shots at the quarian, hoping to get their attention towards me and away from the civilians. The first two hit the quarian, staggering him partially before the third shattered his kinetic barriers and ripped a small gouge into the very edge of his right arm. He flinched hard as the two commandos turned around and unloaded on my position. Luckily, I was far enough away that I could easily relocate.

"You little bosh'tet!" I heard the quarian shout as I moved in behind a crate. "You two, keep looking. I'm going to find this little jo'der."

I could hear his footsteps as he moved in closer, carefully checking the nearby cubicles for any signs of movement.

"Where are you?" He asked in a mocking, singsong tone as I rose up from behind my crate and fired off five shots. Two hit him in his barriers before he managed to fire a few rounds at me. He then dove out of the way behind another row of lockers.

I could feel two of the rounds had hit, the one dropping my barriers and the second hitting me square in the left shoulder. I gritted my teeth, trying as hard as I could to ignore the pain and not yell out in pain.

"You fucking traitor!" I shouted out loud, quickly ejecting my empty mag and loading my last one.

All I could hear was laughing from the other side of the row as I hugged the corner, anticipating his retaliation the moment his barriers had come back.

"Heh, you have some spirit, unlike all those little cowards I killed back there!" He mocked, sounding as if he was enjoying himself through all of this.

"Takes one to know one." I said under my breath, as I pushed against the row of lockers with all my might. They fell over surprisingly easy, revealing the quarian who had barely gotten out of the way in time.

I emptied my entire magazine on him, blowing through his shields as I landed every shot center mass. His envirosuit wasn't equipped with any ballistic mesh, meaning all my rounds tore into him like a hot knife through butter. He hit the deck with a loud clank, dropping his rifle as his hands started shaking uncontrollably.

"You… how…" He sputtered out as I walked over to him.

As he began gurgling on his own blood, I holstered my 1911 and picked up the rifle he had been using. I then put a single round directly though his head, permanently ending him.

I didn't have time to ponder why one of the quarians would turn traitor like this, though. I rushed forward to where the commandos had gone, only to find Captain Mal, Lemm, and the rest of the security team. Kahlee was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" I asked out loud, running back up to him as I gripped my bloody shoulder as tightly as I could.

"They're retreating!" He answered, picking up a different rifle off of the ground to replace his old one as he looked harder at me. "Are you OK?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." I reassured, lying slightly as anger and adrenaline kept me going.

He nodded in agreement, as I then followed behind him and Lemm as we all ran down the stairs as fast as we could. From there, we saw gunfire fly across the trading deck, taking down one of the commandos as they fled from the uppermost deck. The second was completely exposed between us and whoever was down here.

He didn't last long. His barriers offered no protection as a hail of gunfire cut him down.

"It's me, Hendel!" I heard being shouted from the storeroom across the hallway.

"Hendel! You're alive!" Lemm shouted in jubilation as Hendel ran back over to us.

"Is that the last of them?" He asked, looking back at the two commandos we had killed.

"If there are, then they're probably trying to get back to the docking bay." I theorized, pointing in its direction as I felt my shoulder scream at me to stop. "It's the only reason why they would be retreating so suddenly."

"That must mean they have Gillian!" Hendel yelled, his posture becoming immediately tense. "We need to stop them!"

With that, we all began running down the deck to try and stop any shuttle takeoffs. About halfway to the shuttle bay however, I began feeling very dizzy as blood loss from my shoulder wound began to take effect. I went down on one knee as I started feeling weak.

"Lemm, help him seal that wound!" Mal ordered, looking at me before looking back to his men. "Everyone else, with me!"

With that, Lemm took some medi-gel and injected it into my shoulder, just as I began losing consciousness.

"This… can't… not like…this…" I slowly said, weakness taking over as Lemm kneeled down next to me.

"Captain! Stay with me!" I barely heard him shout before I passed out.

…

**A/N: Cerberus strikes once again, hitting the Idenna in their search of the young biotic, Gillian Grayson. Sean is in bad shape after his fight, but hopefully he'll be able to recover from his wounds. What will become of the Idenna? What will happen to Kahlee and Gillian? Next chapter, my friends.**

**The decision to change from "finding a new world" to "moving to a new system" was something I've been wanting to propose ever since starting my story. It really is quite the decision to make when you think about it. The idea of liquidating a large portion of the Migrant Fleet in order to move everyone to a new world is something I've never seen any other writers propose… but then again, none of them have the Gravity Drive.**

**The chapter was a little shorter than I'm normally comfortable releasing, but a lot did happen in it. Oh, and if any of you know who Sean blasted away with his 1911, you get an internet cookie. Congrats.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	22. Exodus

…

"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception."

(Carl Sagan)

…

Unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown

…

My eyelids were heavy, as if they were made of lead. As I opened them, I was greeted with a large, dark blur that occupied the entirety of my vision. I attempted to move my arms, only able to move the right. All I got from the left was a sharp burning sensation that traveled the whole length of my arm. Both legs were much warmer than my exposed arms, meaning I must have been under a blanket or sheet of some kind.

As my vision began clearing back up, the first thing I noticed was Mara, who was sleeping soundly at my bedside. I looked at my surroundings, seeing I was inside a self-contained medical unit similar to the ones on the MFV _Orvosi_, but different in a few ways. I looked to my right hand, relived to see that my father's old ring was still in its rightful place.

I sat in my bed completely still for ages, just trying to reprocess myself and put together a mental timeline of the attack.

We were attacked by Cerberus. They had arrived on one of the _Idenna_'s scout ships. They were apparently looking for Gillian. Attacked in full force, killing everyone in sight. Even the civilians. One of the quarians was part of the Cerberus team. Killed him on the crew deck. Sustained a gunshot wound to the left shoulder. Passed out trying to stop remaining Cerberus commandos from leaving.

After piecing that together, I looked up at the IV bag holder, seeing an empty blood bag hanging from it. It didn't take a genius to realize that I had been given a blood transfusion. I looked to my left shoulder, seeing several layers of bandages covering the spot where I had been shot. I slowly started moving the arm again, starting with my fingers, then wrist, and then the joints themselves. My guess was that several of the nerves must have been inflamed or damaged.

Eventually, the normal running lights turned back on, bathing everything in a bright, LED glow.

I looked back at Mara, seeing that the light has stirred her. She slowly rose from her slumber, her eyes shooting open in surprise the moment she saw me conscious.

"Sean!" She cried out loud, instantly pulling me in and hugging me. "Oh my god, I thought you would never wake up!"

"It's alright… it's alright." I reassured with a weak smile, giving her a gentle pat on the back as she pulled away slightly. She then kissed me on the cheek before sitting back down in her chair. "How long was I out?"

"You were unconscious for... eleven hours." She answered in a soft tone, still looking very worried as she checked the time. "You passed out from blood loss."

I nodded slightly in acknowledgment to her, before other thoughts crossed my mind.

"What happened after I passed out? I asked, becoming worried over Kahlee, Gillian, and the rest of the crew from the _Idenna_. "Is everyone alright?"

"Apparently, from what I heard, one of the guys who attacked was Gillian's father, Paul Grayson." She answered, thinking back the last few hours. "He was trying to take Gillian back to Cerberus, but Kahlee managed to convince him not to do it. They had the other shuttle filled with explosives that would have destroyed the _Idenna_, but he told Captain Mal the code to disarm them."

"I assume this man is now under custody?" I remarked, suddenly getting my old, vigilante urges again. I haven't felt that since Lynda.

"The quarians are debating what they'll be doing with them." She finished, stopping for a few moments before looking back at me. "Sean, you have no idea how close they were to finding me. There were three of them, going cubical to cubical and shooting anyone they found."

She then stopped to think about it for a few more seconds, before she smiled.

"Then I heard your voice." She recollected, tears forming in her eyes as she grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Whatever you did… you saved my life."

She then broke down into tears, putting her head down into my blankets as she sobbed quietly. I put my hand on her back, gently rubbing it.

"It's alright… it's alright." I reassured, taking in a deep breath as I pondered what to do next.

…

MFV _Idenna_, November 25th, 12:36 PM, 2183

…

After a few hours more in my little medical room, I was given an arm sling and was cleared for unassisted movement. I was free to go. After taking the time to look over the medical report, I'd have to chalk my survival up to sheer, blind luck.

If the round the quarian had fired hit any closer to my subclavian artery, I wouldn't still be here, and the blood for the transfusion had come from Mara, who was apparently blood type O- according to her blood tests from months ago.

Lady Luck was on my side, apparently.

The entire fleet was up in arms over the attack on the Idenna, and were unsure as to what they would do with Paul Grayson. He had been the one to give them the access codes to the _Idenna_ and enabled them to cause dozens of deaths, but he also prevented the _Idenna_ from being scuttled by providing the codes to disable the explosives onboard the _Cyniad_. It was a hard decision for them.

I could only guess what affect this would have on the Conclave's previous talks.

Mara and I slowly made our way back to the bridge where Mal currently was, walking past scenes of destruction and bloodshed that were still very fresh. The bodies were nearly finished being moved to one of the shuttle bays, where they would be visited by mourning family members before being ejected into space. It was an extremely depressing ordeal just looking at. I felt so sorry for those who have to move the bodies.

Inside the bridge, Mal was standing at the nearby communication console, going over the tight-beam transmitter repairs with one of his bridge crew. He walked over to us the moment he knew we were here.

"Good to see you back on your feet, Captain Michaels." Mal greeted with a much lighter handshake than normal. "There were some among my medical staff who didn't think you'd survive."

"Well, I'm glad that they were wrong." I replied with a small smile, before thinking back to the grisly question I knew I'd have to ask. "So… what are the numbers?"

Mal paused for a second, turning around and looking out his bridge window.

"Twenty-seven dead, thirty-nine injured or wounded." He answered, hands folded behind his back as he stared out at the stars. "All Cerberus hostiles, ten commandos, one pilot, and one exiled quarian, all dead."

"The quarian I killed on the crew deck was an exile?" I asked, remembering the encounter clearly in my mind.

"Yes, he was formerly Golo'Mekk vas Usela, before trying to sell his fellow crew members to the Collectors." He answered as he turned back around to face us, making me remember the story Dimitri had told me a while ago. "We suspect that he helped Cerberus infiltrate my ship."

"Well, he got what was coming to him." I replied, letting a small bit of venom drip from my voice. "He was killing every quarian he ran across on the crew deck before I pumped him full of bullets."

"Well, you sure did a good job of that." He congratulated, nodding approvingly to me as he pulled my two extra 1911 mags out from a pouch behind his back. "I assume these belong to you?"

"Yes, thank you." I confirmed, taking them both and putting them in my loose coat pocket.

"You're not going to hold Kahlee or the other two accountable for any of this, right?" Mara asked with another worried look in her eyes.

"Of course not, it's not their fault that this all happened. All fault for the attack falls on Cerberus." He said, filling my heart with relief as Mara let out a breath she had been holding in.

"So, what happens with the ship vote now?" I inquired, wondering what kind of ripples this attack was sending thought the Fleet.

"I think in the end, this attack will help generate support for the move to the Klenot system." He answered, folding his hands behind his back again. "I've already received messages from other ship captains offering support. It's unfortunate that it took something like this to change their minds, but what's done is done."

"Well, in the end, I hope it can help strengthen your cause." I finished, giving him a curt nod. "We're going to head back to our ship for now and wait for the conclusion of the Conclave, Captain, but if you or Kahlee or any of the others need our support, we'll be there."

He nodded back to me without a word, as he turned on his heel and went back to the communications console.

Mara and I left the bridge, walking past a few decon crews before ending back up in the shuttle bay to say our goodbyes to Kahlee, Hendel, and Gillian in case we never saw them again. When we arrived at the previously besieged shuttle, we gave it a firm knock.

The door slid open, revealing Hendel and Gillian once more.

"Well, at least you two knock instead of just barging in." He greeted, looking at me with some surprise. "You look as lot better than you did yesterday."

"I'll take that as a complement." I replied, standing instead of sitting. "So, we're going to go back to the Explorer for now, but we just wanted to say goodbye just in case we didn't see you again."

"Well, Kahlee isn't here right now, but I'll be sure to send the word along." Hendel agreed, nodding as we both shook hands.

"We appreciate it." Mara thanked, also shaking his hand.

It was at that moment I remembered something.

"Oh, and before I go…" I said, pulling out an OSD and walking over to Gillian. "Gillian, I made this for you. I was going to give it to you yesterday before… well, before everything happened."

She then took the OSD with a cautious look on her face, staring at it for a few seconds before looking back to me.

"What is it?" She asked, looking slightly harder at me.

"On this OSD, I put copies of all my ambient audio recordings for you to listen to." I explained, pointing at it for emphasis. "If you ever want to focus yourself, relax, or need help going to sleep, these can help you."

"What kind of recordings?" She asked, sounding even more curious.

"Simple things, like snowstorms, rain, waterfalls, and even a campfire." I said, getting a small smile on my face. "These have always helped me, and I'm hoping they can help you too."

"Thank you!" She said quickly, cracking a small smile before going off into the bunk area of the shuttle.

I let my smile grow a little larger before I nodded back to Hendel, and we went on our way. We called a shuttle over to pick us up, and as we waited, Mara and I began talking again.

"So… if they actually do end up moving to the Klenot system, what do you think will become of their Fleet?" She asked as we leaned against one of the bulkheads.

"Well, it's like Mal said before, they'd either have to try and make the journey with conventional FTL, or they'd have to abandon their ships to make the journey." I answered in a matter-of-factly tone, trying hard to ignore the dull, throbbing pain in my left arm.

"Are you sure there's no other way we could get them there?" She inquired further, looking very confused. "I'm sure there's something we could do."

I thought about it for a few moments, thinking about all the possible ways we could mount Reach Systems and whatnot. It was only when I thought harder about the Gravity Drive did it dawn on me.

"I've figured it out!" I said, almost yelling as I found myself filled with a sudden burst of energy. "If we simply used the Liveships to move the unequipped ships, we could slowly transport the Fleet that way!"

"What do you mean?" She quizzed, lost to what I was saying.

"You remember how the Gravity drive works, right?" I quickly asked, trying to get my thoughts out as fast as possible. "It creates a sphere-shaped magnetic field to protect the ship and isolate it from normal space! If we get the ships to cram into close enough proximity that they are also inside the magnetic field, they can all jump at once!"

"Wait, so you're suggesting that the ships without Gravity Drives… surf with the Liveships?" She reworded, suddenly filled with energy as well.

"Yes! It already isolates them from normal space! The field does all the work when it's active, so as long as they stay within that sphere of influence they'll be moving at the same speed as the Liveships!" I confirmed, actually getting a little jittery as the possibilities ran through my head. "We need to tell the Conclave about this! Nothing has to be left behind!"

As soon as our shuttle arrived at the Rayya, we spread this new information like a raging wildfire.

…

MFV _Explorer_, December 1st, 1:22 PM, 2183

…

After almost a week of nonstop debates, meetings, and arguments, the decision had been made.

With all the public support pouring in after the attack on the _Idenna_, and after blabbing about the Reach System's ability to move other ships inside the magnetic field, we were all going to make the move to the Klenot system.

The move itself would take a few days, due to the need for recharges and organizational management. Along with the Liveships, a few of the bigger ships in the Fleet also volunteered to serve as "surfing" vessels. It would be a tedious process once it began tomorrow, but worth it in the end.

The Liveships, due to their massive size, would be able to safely cram upwards of 200 to 500 ships into their magnetic field at once. It would take a few hours to get the ships into position, but when the jump was made, they were set and ready to go. The smaller Fleet ships could fit various numbers, too hard to predict due to size differences and such.

That wasn't the only thing happening, either. Kahlee was taking Paul Grayson to the nearest Alliance facility so they could arrest him, and in an interesting turn of events, Hendel and Gillian were staying in the Migrant Fleet. I offered both of them spots onboard our ship, but after everything they went through on the _Idenna_, I think they were comfortable where they were.

I wished them all the best of luck. It wouldn't be easy integrating into quarian society.

As for me, Mara, Lydia, and the rest of our lovely crew, we were going back to Reach. We had accomplished a lot here over the last week and a half, and personally, I wanted to go home. We'd have a lot of stories to tell our friends back on the homestead.

A lot would be happening the next few days, and I had so many ideas for what we could do once we had full manpower in our system.

I popped a few more pain meds into my mouth as I flexed my left arm with a noticeable amount of pain. Most of the major damage had been healed already, meaning I no longer had to wear the arm sling. The hard part would be getting my arm to move properly again. It would be a good month or so before I could even think about fine motor control in my hand.

I looked around the bridge, looking at everyone as they look their places. Mara was back at her communications console with her hair hanging out freely, Lenlo was piloting our old bucket of bolts, Kirva was sitting calmly at the weapons console as she fiddled with her tooth necklace, and the reclusive Biss had actually come up from Engineering and offered to man the communications console.

I smiled, realizing how good of a crew I really did have as I looked out the window into the black.

"Lenlo, engage the Gravity Drive." I ordered, nodding to him as I relaxed in my chair. "Take us home."

"Yes Captain." He replied with an uplifted tone, as the vision outside of the Explorer became distorted for a few seconds. We then jumped, stars passing by in seconds as we moved into a new age.

…

MFV _Explorer_, December 29th, 7:20 AM, 2183

…

"_In other news, Council investigators are still baffled over the sudden disappearance of the Quarian Migrant Fleet. The fleet of over 50,000 ships was last seen in the Pylos Nebula three weeks ago before it vanished, sending many government agencies across the territories into a panic. No one has been able to figure out how the massive flotilla of ships simply dropped off the radar, leading to many theories over the Fleet's sudden absence. Some believe that the Quarians have returned to their home system beyond the Veil in an attempt to take back their homeworld from the Geth, while others are suggesting that they could have found a Mass Relay that leads to an undiscovered system. Privateers are combing the Pylos Nebula looking for possible answers, but are having no luck in their search for possible clues. The Council is preparing to dispatch SPECTRE operatives to the Pylos Nebula for an official investigation. When questioned on the issue, Councilor Sparatus was quoted, saying "The quarians are vagrants, thieves, and above all else, dangerous. Until their fleet can be found, we can only assume the worst."_

I cracked a small smile as I finished reading the latest news article on the Migrant Fleet's "mysterious disappearance." It was actually a lot of fun reading all these hair brained theories of what happened to the Quarians. It was like being part of a massive, species-wide inside joke.

I was about sixty percent sure that the Alliance already knew what we had done, and I was one-hundred percent sure Cerberus sure as hell knew where we were. Hell, some of the scrap from their destroyed ships probably went into the construction of the ODP. With all the tensions after the attack and our isolated location, I doubt they'd try anything funny for a long time.

Nearing the end of our first month here in the Klenot system, things were going very well. All ships finished making the jumps after three days, and now the only ships outside Klenot were exploration ships that were slowly making their way back home. On top of that, many ships have actually landed on Reach, looking to establish settlements, I wasn't expecting that, but I couldn't argue against it in any way.

Within days of fully occupying the system, entire mining facilities have popped up all over Reach, and smaller wolf pack groups of mining ships have begun combing through the asteroid belts of Mėlynas and Geltonas. Resources were rolling into the Fleet like a steady stream of water. It didn't take long for production on the Orbital Defense Platform to finish after this, which made me and everyone else on the station happy on an incredible level.

We received an outpouring of volunteers to work on the station, much to my surprise, but then again all quarians volunteered to serve rotations on the Liveships too. In fact, today was the day we were actually going to test the ODP. It was online and fully functional, and later this afternoon all the Admirals and key members of the Conclave would arrive to witness the largest mass accelerator weapon ever fire for the first time.

Everyone else was still asleep at the moment, but that would likely change in a few minutes since the scent of coffee was now rolling through the air. Now that the ODP was finished, I began mulling over a few more ideas that had been rolling through my skull.

What I wanted to do was start designing new spacecraft that we could use. Nothing huge, just simple things like fighters, gunships, and possibly freighters. Plenty of ideas, and so many possibilities. Once the ball got rolling on the orbital shipyards, I was going to propose the creation of seven new fighter squadrons, and a single squadron of heavily-armed gunships. The quarians were at a serious disadvantage in both departments, considering they had very few effective gunships, and no fighters to speak of.

I looked at a few of the little digital drawings I had made for my proposal later this week. I was a pretty good artist when it came to technical objects such as guns, vehicles, and other objects, but I could never draw organic things like faces or hands to save my life. My favorite at the moment had to be the one gunship I had dubbed "The Cobra".

It was a medium-sized, multi-purpose assault craft armed with two 100mm mass accelerator cannons on the ends of the wings, and four missile launchers on the inside where the wings made contact with the hull. It would be manned by a crew of six, and would be capable of bombarding ships and ground targets with relative ease. It would be able to carry cargo in a small hold near the center of the craft, and would feature wings that folded upwards when landing. It would be propelled by four oversized plasma engines, powered by a miniature NM reactor.

I wanted this big bastard to hit as hard as a thermobaric bomb, and move fast enough to avoid retaliation from anything but the most advanced interceptors.

Still, it was only a concept. There would likely be problems associated with developing such a craft, but in the end I think it would make a valuable addition to the Fleet if I could get it built.

I picked up my cup of coffee, taking a sip and letting it sink in for a second. This last coffee shipment we got was some of the best I have ever had while here in the Fleet. I didn't know if it was some sort of unannounced reward or something, but it was fucking fantastic.

I looked over my shoulder, seeing that the second person to get up today was actually Biss. I thought this was odd, because he's always gotten up at 9:00 sharp every morning.

"Well, how are you this fine morning?" I greeted, raising my cup towards him.

"I'm alright." He replied quickly, grabbing a tube of nutrient paste from the second cabinet on the top as he always did. He then sat down slowly in the end chair closest to the escape pods.

"So, have you gone over to see the ODP yet?" I asked before shoveling another spoonful of cornflakes into my mouth.

"N-no, it's a little too… imposing for me." He answered, seizing up slightly before relaxing again. "Is it dangerous?"

"It is for any poor sap who tries to approach Reach without identifying themselves." I said, letting a small smirk cross my face. "Why? Worried about it?"

"No, I'm just worried about… well…" He began to explain before stopping himself.

"You're still worried about the mass effect fields, I know." I finished for him, knowing exactly what he was keeping himself from saying.

He nodded in agreement, hooking his nutrient tube to the underside of his mask as we both sat in silence for a while minute.

"So, what's your latest theory on mass effect fields and their impact on the space around us?" I asked, wanting to break up the silence between us and coax him into socializing.

"Well… I'm starting to think that they could have various, damaging effects on large, gravitational fields." He answered, sounding more comfortable now that he was talking about his favorite subject. "Things like weakening the magnetosphere of a planet, disrupting the composition of stars, or maybe even weakening the magnetic components of electronic systems."

I stared at him in thought for a moment before speaking up.

"Can you think of any way to measure these changes?" I asked, trying to find a way to further his theory. "Have you tried subjecting say… standard iron magnets to a mass effect field? Seeing if that does something to their overall strength?"

"I haven't tried that yet, no, but I had that and a few other small experiments lined up when we return to the surface of the planet." He finished, standing up as he pulled out his empty nutrient tube and discarded it into the trash chute.

"Ok then, well let me know what you come up with when you're done." I encouraged, as he nodded quickly back to me and walked off.

I thought about his latest theory for a few seconds, wondering if this could actually be true this time.

If it did, then we could have a few more tech ideas for the future.

…

Cairo Station, December 29th, 2:30 PM, 2183

…

I stood at attention at the top of the command center, looking down at everyone gathered here. All Admirals but Koris and Zadie were present, along with the two-thirds of the Conclave that voted in favor of constructing this station. I was front and center at the top of the command platform with Captain Keno. I looked back, seeing all my friends looking back at me with smiles on their faces.

"I think everyone's here." Keno said, turning slightly towards me.

"Yeah, let's get this ball rolling." I replied, stepping forward as all chatter in the room stopped.

It was so quiet during that one moment that you could hear your own heartbeat.

"Thank you all for coming here today. I can't express how grateful I am for all the support we received for this project, so... thank you." I began, looking at each and every face that was staring up at me. "Today, we will be firing the largest mass accelerator weapon ever built, and with it we can protect the Klenot system from any outside threat. Today, Reach becomes a fortress world that will ward off all those who wish us harm. Captain Keno, you may have the honor."

"Thank you, Captain." He nodded, stepping forward next to me. "Begin the firing sequence. Target the MFV _Odkrycie _and fire for maximum effect."

I looked at the large monitor at the end of the room as the station rumbled. The loading mechanism traversed the barrel, charging the coils to full power before stopping at the top. The whole command center was silent for that one, brief moment.

What I saw next was the most exciting and terrifying display of firepower I had ever seen.

The gun fired as the loader slammed back down the barrel, sending a massive shockwave through the station as the round soared into the decommissioned MFV _Odkrycie_ a few miles away, impacting with maximum force. It exploded into a shower of debris, creating a large flash of blue light before dissipating in the vacuum of space.

The entire Admiralty and Conclave erupted into applause, as Captain Keno gave a silent salute to his old home. I would have to look at the data we had recorded of the impact, but for now, it was time to celebrate.

We had finally done it. We've given the quarians a new, safe home.

I hoped it would be enough to stop the Reapers.

…

**A/N: So, that concludes the second major arc of the story. The quarians finally have a new home, are safe from the rest of the galaxy, and can now begin repairing and upgrading their ships for the inevitable retaking of the homeworld. Just because they have this world doesn't mean they'll be giving up on Rannoch anytime soon.**

**I'm still between ideas for what will occur between now and Mass Effect 2, but I'll figure it out sooner or later. It feels so good to have this portion of the story finished, and I hope you're all still having a good time reading it. I may take a bit of a break after this chapter, or I may not, who knows. It all depends on how I feel.**

**My lazy ass finally got around to writing my profile page. It's got some basic info about me and the story on it.**

**Also, I'd like to give a big thanks to entroz on deviantART for allowing me to use one of his ship designs as the basis for "The Cobra." It can bee seen here: fav me**** da05jtk (Put a period between fav and me, and a slash between me and da05jtk.)**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	23. Firewall

…

"Boss... you were right. It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world... the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others, and believing in your own."

(Big Boss)

…

Pacem Proving Grounds, January 18th, 1:22 PM, 2184

…

It was a beautiful afternoon for a test drive. There were scattered clouds, no showers, and there was a crisp breeze in the air. I loved being able to work in such a lovely environment.

I looked over my current report for the X1 Cobra prototype, seeing that the finishing touches to the primary plasma engine system were done. I looked up at the parked gunship, taking in how cool it was to see one of my old concepts not only in person, but fully functional. Rael and Gerrel really liked the idea behind the ship, hence why it was the first one chosen for construction.

I walked over, climbing up the extended ladder and into the ship itself. The interior was slightly cramped but cozy, packed with a basic sensor suite, gunnery computers, and a host of other equipment. A lot of said equipment was deliberately designed to be more basic and mechanical in style, especially the ship's cockpit design and controls. They closely resembled what you'd see in a 21st century attack helicopter like the Apaches used by the U.S. military, but with obvious differences.

There was reason behind this decision. I wasn't a big fan of all the holographic displays used to control most flying craft nowadays. I always had a lingering fear of being inside such a craft and having the displays all fail on me. As such, the entire craft was built with many contingencies in mind. All the seats in the ship were equipped with harnesses, there were handles on most surfaces, and for worst-case scenarios we had even included parachutes. Ruggedness, durability, and survivability were the name of the game.

If the Cobra performed properly and went into production, it would have a revolving 20mm turret placed on the top that could either be manually controlled by a gunner or by a V.I. A pretty simple change to the overall design, but could help a lot if the Cobra was ever given chase by something faster.

"Oh, you are already here." Dimitri remarked with a little bit of surprise in his voice as he climbed into the ship.

"Hello Dimi." I greeted, looking back at him for a moment before looking back at the co-pilot's seat.

"So, is Cobra ready for test?" He asked, walking over to me as he looked out the cockpit window.

"It's ready to go, we're just waiting for our volunteers to arrive." I said, tucking my datapad into my pocket as I walked to the back to look over the NM reactor one more time.

After some exhaustive work between me and Dan, we've successfully managed to miniaturize our reactor system enough that it could fit on a ship like this. In its current state, it was configured to produce more plasma than usual for the engines, but still generated more electricity than the ship would ever need. Due to the nature of this craft, the fusion chamber did not have a viewing window.

The ship couldn't be equipped with a Gravity Drive, however. Due to the way it functions, the centrifuge at the center of the drive had to be a certain size in order for a proper magnetic field to be formed. If we were to add a Gravity Drive, we'd have to scrap the cargo bay and increase the NM reactor to its standard size. It was alright, though. This wasn't meant to be a long-range scout ship anyways.

I already had something else in mind for that purpose.

"So… you still haven't told me if you're impressed." I brought up, looking over at Dimitri as he looked down at the ground through the open cargo bay.

"I'll let you know once test is over." He replied, looking back at me for a moment before shifting his gaze back.

A few minutes later, our four volunteers arrived. They hadn't been briefed much to my annoyance. That was supposed to be Sira's job, but she forgot yet again. I plopped on my helmet, sealing it with a hiss.

"Alright, so this test will consist of five parts." I started, looking between my datapad and the four volunteers as I spoke. "The first will be standard flight, where we test basic maneuverability. Second, we will perform the speed test, pushing the ship as fast as we can. Third is the atmospheric weapons test, where we attack stationary and moving targets with the cannons and missile systems. Fourth will be the orbital engine test where we transition between space and atmosphere, and last we will finish off with a combat test in orbit. Any questions?"

One of the volunteers, a fresh private from Dolor, raised their hand as the others stood completely still. I nodded to him, granting him permission to speak.

"Sir, what are some of the parameters for a failed test?" He asked, immediately pulling his arm back to his side as he spoke.

"Well, there are several, private." I answered, putting my datapad into my rucksack as I focused exclusively on him. "If we crash, explode, vent air while in space, or burn up while reentering the planet's atmosphere, we fail. Does that answer your question, private?"

"Yes sir." He answered, still standing ramrod stiff.

"Alright. Man your assigned stations." I finished, giving them a good nod as they fell out.

Dimitri was going to be the one piloting the ship, and I was his co-pilot. The co-pilot's seat was located slightly below the pilot's seat closer to the front of the ship. Both of us were capable of flying the ship independently from one another. We were both wearing newly modified masks that were equipped with specially-designed HUDs for flight control. All quarians who would pilot this and any other attack craft we designed would have this system installed into their own masks as well.

"Alright… pre-flight check." Dimitri started, as he began listing everything off in order, making sure they were all up to snuff. I did the same with my own instruments, making sure there were no differences between us. "OK, we are ready for launch, my friend. Transmit test code to Fleet Actual."

"Fleet Actual, this is Captain Michaels, code Charlie Option Baker Roger Able. We're beginning our test, please confirm." I called out into the secure testing channel, wanting to make sure we weren't mistaken for anything else by the Fleet during our flight.

"_Understood Captain. We've got you pinged_." A voice replied back in confirmation as I secured my harness. "_Good luck with the test flight_."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." I finished, killing the connection as I turned around and gave Dimitri a thumbs up.

The entire ship rumbled slightly as we fired up the NM reactor, getting ready for takeoff. The ladder lifted back up into the ship as the cargo bay doors sealed shut, the entire cabin pressurizing to ensure we were good to go.

"Alright, here we go." Dimitri announced, as he slowly gave the engines some life. We lifted into the air just slightly, hovering in place. I flicked the switch for the landing gear, letting it all retract back into the body of the ship. "OK, let me get a feel for this…"

Dimitri slowly rotated the ship, first giving it a full right turn, then a full left turn. He then pulled the ship up a little higher, giving me a slight lurch to my stomach.

"I knew I forgot something. I forgot about inertial dampeners." He said with annoyance in his voice, flicking the switch as my center of gravity returned to normal. "There we go."

He pitched back and forth slightly, still getting a feel for the controls.

"You feel good enough for the second phase?" I asked, looking into the mirror that let me and Dimitri see each other.

"Da, I do." He replied with a smile, letting a huff of air exit through his mask.

"Alright… give it all it's got." I finished, unfolding the wings and locking them into the flight position.

Dimitri then fired up the plasma engines, sending another rumble through the hull. We then accelerated very fast, so fast that I could still feel some of the acceleration through the dampeners. The speed gauge was climbing incredibly fast.

"2,000…2,500…3,000…3,500…4,000…4,500…5,000…5,500…5,890." I counted up as I held myself back slightly." We appear to be peaking around… 6,120 kilometers per hour."

"In atmosphere, too!" Dimitri replied, sounding rather happy. "Imagine how fast we will go in space!"

I smiled at his comment, taking down some notes before looking back into the mirror.

"Alright, now it's time for the combat test!" I announced, looking over my shoulder into the cabin to look at the two gunnery stations. "The targets for today should be within firing range within… one minute. You two ready back there?"

"Ready!" Both of them replied, leaning forward into their stations to scan for targets.

"Alright, let's blow some shit up!" I encouraged, shaking myself in my seat in anticipation.

We flew in silence for 45 or so seconds before our radar pinged, indicating hostile signatures. Over the next forest range was the far end of the proving grounds, where a dozen targets in two different groups. It was all automated junk on wheels, but they would do.

Since we were already moving incredibly fast, we'd be starting off with strafing attacks on the first group. As soon as the targets appeared, the computers locked on.

"Engaging targets!" The gunners announced, as several muffled thumps and bangs resonated through the hull. Several missiles and 100mm cannon shells ripped into the targets below us as we sped past.

"Did we get them?" Dimitri asked, looking over his seat into the back.

"We eliminated all the targets in Group 1!" One of them announced, as a small cheer of approval went through the cabin.

"Good work, people. Let's mop up the rest of them." I congratulated, as we zoomed back to the test site.

This time, we launched our attack while in hover mode, hanging about thirty yards back from where the targets were moving back and forth. It took less than ten seconds for each one of the six targets into slag.

"I didn't think the accuracy would be good with cannons so far from fuselage." Dimitri observed with an impressed tone to his words.

"They swivel out slightly for more precise aiming." I replied back, looking into the mirror. "Anyways, three down, two to go, people! Time for the space tests."

I received various responses as Dimitri gunned the engines once more, sending us soaring into the sky. The blue sky peeled away slowly as it was replaced with stars. I took a moment to admire the view once more. The large, blue nebula that Geltonas slowly generated could be seen very clearly, even though the gas giant itself was many, many thousands of miles away.

Now that we were out here, we would run diagnostics on the ship while in a space environment.

"Ok, running… running… there, I think that's it." I said, looking over the log to make sure we had everything. "Wait a minute… Dimi, did you fully decrease throttle on all the engines?"

"Yes. Why?" He asked, looking down at me from the side of his chair.

"I'm still reading a power signature from engine number three." I observed, looking at my own panel to check it twice. "Please make sure the throttle is down on number three."

"I did, all throttles are down." He replied, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Well, maybe it's an instrumentation error." I hypothesized, tapping my datapad onto my faceplate. "Try turning off all the engines and restarting them, perhaps that will fix it."

"Alright." He agreed, shutting down all four engines. About a minute later, the engines were still dead.

"Um, are you going to restart the engines, Dimi?" I asked, looking back at him in the mirror.

"They aren't turning back on." He replied in a much more serious tone, flicking the ignition switches over and over again for all four engines. "I've lost power to all of our engines."

I looked as the status screen, seeing that they indeed were no longer connected to the power grid.

"Oh fuck." I exclaimed, flicking the switches on my board with similar results. I then undid my harness, hopping out of my seat. "I can fix this, I can fix this! Just let me take a look at the back."

I ran into the back of the ship, opening up the access panels to see if I could find the cause of the power loss. Inside the main panel, I immediately saw what the problem was. The insulation on the main engine power conduits looked as if they had burned off, and there was an intense amount of heat coming from inside the access panel. That wasn't good.

"I think the heat from the engines might have overloaded the power conduit." I assessed, looking back into the cabin. "I'll have to run a bypass to get it working again. Someone come back here and lend me a hand!"

I quickly opened up the auxiliary panel, looking for the circuit panel that fed into the primary conduit.

"Alright… hand me the rubber gloves and the socket wrench." I ordered, as one of the volunteers gave me what I needed with haste. I began removing the four bolts that covered the panels, making sure not to hit any of the live wires. I then pulled the panel off, revealing the main circuit breakers. "Alright… shutting off power to the primary bus bar. Standby…"

I flicked the switch, an audible clunk resonating through the hull.

"OK, we're good so far." I remarked out loud, grabbing a small spool of emergency wire from the inside of the access hatch. "Now, run this to the reactor auxiliary port and make sure it's in there tight."

I then pulled out the main conduit between the reactor and the circuit board, replacing it with the emergency wire. I pulled on the breaker hard, making sure the wire was in there as far as it would go.

"Alright, let's see if this works." I said, taking in a deep breath as I flicked the circuit breaker back on, reconnecting the primary engine bus bar. There was a quick flash as the connection was made, making me nod in approval. "That should do it. Now take that fire extinguisher and just empty the entire thing into the main panel. We need to cool it down before we start the engines back up."

My new helper nodded back to me, taking the extinguisher off the wall and firing its entire contents into the area. There was a surprisingly noticeable drop of heat in the air.

"OK, let's start it back up." I finished, running back to the co-pilot seat and strapping myself back in. "Dimi?"

He hit the ignition switch for all four engines as a rumble resonated through the hull for a second, then petered out.

"It's still not working." He remarked, looking into the mirror at me with what I could only assume was an unamused expression.

"Give it a minute." I urged, holding up my index finger as silence filled the air.

"Sean, just admit that it didn't-" He started as all four engines fired at once, fully reactivated.

"See, I told you!" I remarked with a gitty sense of accomplishment. "Let's dock at the Cairo Station and assess the damage there. I don't want to risk re-entry with a patch job."

"Agreed." He nodded back, pushing the throttle back up about mid-way, heading towards the massive space station.

"Cairo Station, this is Captain Sean Michaels, requesting permission to land in one of the shuttle bays." I called out over the radio as we approached the station.

"_Affirmative, Captain._" One of the traffic controllers answered. "_Shuttle bay delta is clear for landings, you may proceed._"

"Thank you, _Cairo_." I finished as Dimitri took us in. As we neared Delta, the heavy shuttle bay doors slid open, giving us plenty of room to slide inside and land. We hit the deck with a clunk as the wings on the sides of the ship folded back up.

We all climbed out of the Cobra, seeing that a small security team had arrived to check up on us.

"Is everything alright here, Captain? Your arrival wasn't scheduled." The team leader asked, holstering their rifle as I walked over.

"Yeah, for the most part." I answered casually, scratching my neck as everyone stood behind me. "We experienced some heat issues after breaking atmo, and lost our engines for a few minutes before we managed to work out a temporary fix. I decided it would be better to come here instead of risking re-entry."

"Understood, sir." He replied, nodding in acknowledgement. "Would you like me to inform Captain Keno?"

"No, I'll tell him myself." I waved off, taking in a breath of air. "It's been a while since I've spoken with him anyway."

"Very well, sir." He finished as he and his team walked back off.

I turned around to face Dimitri and our four volunteers, wondering what would happen next with our ship.

"You guys can relax, we won't be going anywhere until the Cobra is fixed. For now, the test is on hold." I told the volunteers, letting them all go off so I could speak to Dimitri. "So, it looks like I forgot to account for the heat buildup in the engines. You think I should reduce the engine output to compensate?"

"No, I was thinking we could install heat sinks along outer hull to trap excess heat." He theorized, looking at the Cobra with folded arms as he spoke. "It might be enough to keep heat out of ship."

"It might, then again a liquid nitrogen cooler on the inside could also do the trick." I added, looking back at him as I pointed to the engines. "The issue didn't seem to be with the actual engines, but more with the internal components themselves."

"Perhaps an internal cooling system with triple jacketed power conduits?" He continued, looking down at me.

"Yeah… that sounds like it could do the trick." I agreed, nodding as I looked harder at the engines. "I'll know for sure what we'll do once I go over the data, but I think we'll be abl-"

I was suddenly cut off as the station's yellow alert lights and alarms activated, sending everyone running to their stations.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed in surprise, looking around as everyone began running off.

"Something must have entered the system." Dimitri guessed, looking ready for anything.

"Let's get to the command center and see what's going on." I urged as we began running as fast as we could.

We passed through the habitat, ignoring the monorail as we ran straight through the pressure doors and into the transition area between Delta and the command center itself. The two guards in full Type IV exos stopped us, checking our IDs before letting us inside. We then walked up the stairs to the upper platform, where Captain Keno was looking over something on his datapad.

"Captain Michaels." He greeted quickly with a small nod.

"Captain Keno." I greeted back, walking closer. "What's happening? We were in shuttle bay delta when the alert went out."

"According to one of our probes, a single ship entered the system about seven minutes ago." He explained, handing me the datapad as he walked to the railing that lined the platform. "It made its way to Reach, and is now holding on the edge of the kill zone. We're arming the MAC, and we've got ships taking defensive formation behind us in case they try anything."

"Who are they?" I inquired further, looking at the white ship off of the edge of the planet's influence.

"That's an Alliance ship, a York-class cruiser." Dimitri answered, as we both stopped to look at him as he gazed at the primary screen. "They're not here to attack."

"How do you know?" Keno asked, walking over to get a better look at the view screen.

"Standard Alliance protocol for approaching another ship or planet for communicative purposes is to arrive in single ship." He replied, crossing his arms with confidence. "If they were here to scout system, they would have brought scout frigate. If there were here to attack, they would have brought more than one ship."

"What if it's some sort of trick?" Keno prodded further, considering all the options.

"There's only one way to find out." I said, leaning on the railing. "Hail them on the broadband, see who it is exactly we are dealing with.

Keno looked harder at the image for a few seconds, as the magnetic accelerator cannon's loading mechanism readied a round in the background.

"Captain, the MAC is fully charged!" One of the fire control officers announced, as Keno looked down at them for a moment.

He continued to ponder his choices for a moment, before looking back at me.

"Hail the vessel on the broadband, scan their frequencies for any irregularities." He ordered, standing straighter as he maintained his focus on me. "I hope you're right about this."

"I hope so too." I agreed with a bit of a nod, acknowledging his doubts.

"Alliance vessel, this is Captain Cyi'Keno vas Cairo of the orbital defense flotilla. You have entered restricted quarian space. Please state your business here." Keno hailed, leaning towards the console as he spoke clearly and with authority.

"_Captain Cyi'Keno, this is Admiral Steven Hackett of the Systems Alliance Fifth Fleet. I'm here on behalf of Prime Minister Amul Shastri seeking an audience with your leadership_." An old, familiar grizzled voice replied back, instantly making me remember Aldrin Station.

"Hackett… huh." Dimitri huffed out, still maintaining his arms in their crossed position.

Captain Keno paused for a moment, looking back at us. We nodded to him in agreement.

"Affirmative, Admiral. Please hold your current position until further notice. I will contact the Conclave and the Admiralty Board to arrange a meeting." He finished, leaning back up.

"_Understood. I look forward to it._" Hackett ended, as the line went dead.

"Did you pick up anything during the transmission?" Keno asked one of his communication officers, leaning on the railing to get a good look at them.

"No anomalous signals detected, sir." One of them replied, looking up at us.

He then stared down as the floor for a few seconds, before nodding his head. He then walked back to the comms console, putting out a priority message to all Admirals and Conclave members.

"Attention, this is Captain Cyi'Keno vas Cairo on priority channel four alpha. Admiral Hackett of the Alliance Fifth Fleet has entered the system in a single ship, looking for an audience with the Admiralty Board and the Conclave. Please acknowledge." He said into the comms network, sending the message to everyone of leadership in the system.

He then got hundreds of notifications back as everyone began acknowledging his message. There were so many flooding in on his end that I couldn't even keep track of all the names.

This was going to be an interesting next couple of hours.

…

MFV _Rayya_, January 18th, 4:02 PM, 2184

…

The last two hours had been a massive clusterfuck of messages as everyone across the system scrambled to get together a team to meet with Admiral Hackett. I think they were very aware of what kind of impact this talk could have, especially the Admirals. Hackett himself was being very patient throughout all of this, though I suspected that he really wanted to go back and re-join the rest of his Fleet soon.

Unfortunately, the Admirals all insisted that I be one of the eighteen Conclave members to go with them, despite my protests. I was afraid that Hackett might recognize me, possibly demand that I be handed over to the Alliance or something like that. I had no idea what he remembered about me.

I now stood with the other seventeen members of the Conclave and the Admirals in the same meeting hall where we first met two years ago, back when we were all broken-hearted Alliance patriots who were desperately looking for a safe, new home.

That will always be one of the worst periods of my life.

I shook my head, focusing back on the people all gather here. There were a lot of people here, and I wasn't even counting Rayya crewmembers and exo-suited Migrant Fleet marines armed with plasma guns. Hackett hadn't even arrived yet, and the security here was already more than I imagined them needing.

"It looks like we've had quite the turnout, huh Captain?" A familiar voice from behind me remarked, as I flipped around to see Captain Mal.

"Hey Mal!" I greeted, giving him a firm handshake and an unseen smile. "How have things been going? The Idenna is still in one piece, I presume?"

"More than ever, actually." He replied, crossing his arms. "We've recently finished our refit in the orbital shipyards. The ship hasn't looked this good since it was first built."

"Well congratulations!" I nodded back, giving him a nudge on the shoulder.

Before I could continue, everything suddenly grew quiet. I turned around to see Admiral Steven Hackett walk into the hall, followed closely by four Alliance marines armed with holstered rifles. Hackett was wearing a transparent breathing mask, while the marines wore fully-pressurized hard suits. Their helmet visors were polarized, preventing me from looking at their eyes.

"This Conclave is brought to order. Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai." Raan began as per tradition, as everyone repeated keelah se'lai in unison. "Admiral Hackett, welcome."

"Thanks for having me." He replied, looking up at them on their podium. "I know you weren't expecting this, but I appreciate your willingness to meet with me on such short notice."

"I'm sure we both have a lot of questions to ask one another." Gerrel said, adjusting his footing so he was directly facing Hackett.

"That's a bit of an understatement." He shot back, focusing on Gerrel as his expression hardened and became more serious. "I have just as many questions for you, but that is not why I came here today."

Hackett then took another step forward.

"I have come here on behalf of Prime Minister Amul Shastri, offering a partnership between the Systems Alliance and the Migrant Fleet." He announced, as everyone in the hall, including me, shifted in place as the weight of such an offer landed right on our heads. Raan quickly quashed the smaller comments that had popped up, shifting all focus back to them.

"This offer didn't just come out of nowhere." Koris observed, crossing his arms. "Why are you offering us this partnership?"

"I'll be honest, there are different motives floating around for this." Hackett began, looking down for a moment before raising his eyes back up. "Shastri is worried about the political implications of the Council discovering that the Gravity Drive was created by the Alliance and is now being widely used by the largest fleet of ships in the galaxy. Personally, I'm more interested in the fact that you believe the Reapers actually exist."

"Why would you care about us believing in the Reapers?" Rael immediately rebuked in his usual, belligerent tone. "The Alliance is large enough that it shouldn't have trouble making decisions on the matter."

"See, that's the problem." Hackett argued, cocking is head slightly towards Rael. "The Alliance Parliament and the Citadel Council would much rather bury their heads in the sand and ignore the warnings than actually accept them as fact. Now that Shepard is dead and his testimony is gone, the Alliance is going nowhere fast in terms of preparations."

"What do you expect us to do? Give you ships and supplies?" Gerrel replied in a slightly mocking tone. "We've got our own problems, Admiral."

"Gerrel, that is enough!" Raan silenced, waving her hand at the man. "Admiral Hackett, what kind of partnership are you proposing, exactly?"

"A quiet one." He replied calmly, looking at all five Admirals. "Like I mentioned before, Shastri is terrified that the Council will discover that the quarians are using Alliance tech. We're looking to create this special arrangement because we see you as a potential ally."

"Or a potential threat." Rael muttered under his breath, looking off to the side.

"At this point, do you think we really care that you're using our tech? You look content here in this system, and we're happy to just let the Council think that you really did disappear." Hackett pushed, motioning with his hands. "We both know that the Reapers are coming. If we all want a chance to survive, we need to work together and come up with possible defenses, weapons, countermeasures. If we wait until the last minute, it'll be too late."

The entire hall was filled with silence as all the Admirals thought over what he said. I started feeling personally responsible for what the Alliance was trying to deal with, but then again we had no other choice. If we hadn't gone to the quarians, we might be dead right now.

"We will… consider your offer, Admiral." Raan said, nodding to him. "We'd like to ask you to return to your ship while we debate this. We will invite you back as soon as we've come to a decision."

"Thank you." Hackett finished with a slight nod, before he and his four escorts turned around and left for their ship.

The entire hall was filled with silence while we watched them leave. Even after the doors to the hall closed, everything was still silent.

I could only imagine the shitstorm that was going to erupt from this.

…

**A/N: So, Sean and Dimitri got to test out a new spacecraft, and a sudden, unexpected visit from the Alliance. What will the Admiral and the Conclave decide on? What will happen between Hackett and the rest of the Quarians? Find out next time.**

**This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write. I made sure that I got a lot of detail in for the Cobra, since I plan on it being a big part of the story later on. I've also got a few more crafts planned for the future, and I can't wait to start writing about them.**

**Once again, I'd like to give a big thanks to entroz on deviantART for allowing me to use one of his ship designs as the basis for "The Cobra." It can be seen here: fav me da05jtk (Put a period between fav and me, and a slash between me and da05jtk.)**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	24. Discovery

…

"A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason."

(J. P. Morgan)

…

MFV _Rayya_, January 19th, 5:37 AM, 2184

…

I was very tired. I needed coffee, or sleep. Preferably sleep. The only thing keeping me awake right now were two NoDoz caffeine tablets I had taken an hour ago, yet even that was having very little effect on my awareness. I never realized how much more energy quarians had until now.

We had spent the entire night debating near non-stop in the Conclave. I didn't understand how the debates could be so intense, yet so boring at the same time. It seemed like everyone had a different opinion on what to do. I had honestly lost interest in the debate long ago.

All I was doing now was sitting in the back of the bleachers as we waited for Hackett to come back. I was scrolling through my datapad looking for something to keep myself focused, but it was all failing. I tried to prop myself up slightly to keep my head from leaning back any further, but I slipped and instead went right back down.

"You alright, Captain?" Mal asked as I slowly turned to look up at him. "You seem a little bit… sloppy."

I sighed, shaking my head in a negative fashion.

"No, I'm not." I remarked, stuck in my deadpan. "I've had no interest, no sleep, and no fucking coffee for the last thirteen hours. How can you go on for so long like this?"

"Sometimes I wonder the exact same thing." He replied, offering me a hand up. I accepted it as he pulled me back up to my feet. "I don't think it'll be much longer."

"I hope not, because if I have to go another hour like this, I'm libel to pass out." I finished, shaking my head and resisting the temptation to beat myself in the head just to make myself more aware.

Another five minutes slowly went by, feeling more like ten minutes in my sleep-deprived mind. Finally, Hackett arrived much the same way he had before, with a breathing mask and four Alliance marines escorting him. I took in a deep breath as Raan began the meeting, blessing the ancestors.

"Admiral Hackett, we have deliberated many hours on your offer, but we have yet to render a decision because we still don't have enough information." Raan explained as Hackett looked around at all of us.

Even in my current state, I hoped that he wouldn't be able to pick me out all the way back here.

"Well, what would you like to know?" He asked, likely looking to secure this deal any way he could.

"We'd like to know about the exact nature of this partnership." Koris began, as he shifted slightly. "We've had a lot of problems lately, and we're worried that this could pose problems for us in the long run."

"With this partnership, we'd be cooperating between one another on an information-based level." Hackett started, looking between all of the Admirals as he spoke. "I'm mostly concerned with exchanging information regarding the Reapers as the moment, but if we could agree to it, we could exchange other information."

"I'm worried about the potential security risks of this." Gerrel remarked, crossing his arms. "We're aware that the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus has firmly rooted itself in the Alliance using undercover agents. How can you guarantee that none of our information will go back to them?"

"OK, now you've got me very confused." Hackett stopped, holding up one of his hands as he got an angry look on his face. "How are you so aware of the Alliance and its internal issues? I'm still confused as to how you have acquired our jump drive technology."

I knew this partnership wouldn't happen if we kept up this air of suspicion and distrust. I had to do something.

I sucked in my gut, shook my head, and let out a hot breath of air as I mentally readied myself.

"That would be my fault, sir." I said out loud, raising my hand into the air. Everyone turned to look at me with varying levels of surprise.

"Captain, this doesn't need to involve you!" Rael angrily remarked, almost yelling.

"Yes it does, Admiral Zorah." I rebuked, slowly making my way down the closest isle to the center. "If we keep up this cloak and dagger bullshit, there's no chance that a partnership can form from this."

I then calmly walked up to Hackett, depolarizing my faceplate as I looked into his surprised eyes.

"Dr. Michaels?" Hackett questioned disbelievingly with a slightly lowered voice.

"Long time no see, Admiral." I greeted, offering a handshake which he actually denied, which was a bad sign. "Well… ask your questions."

"You've been with the Quarians for the last two years?" He continued to question as we focused exclusively on one another.

"A little more than that, actually. February will make it three years, I believe." I replied, clasping my hands behind my back as I prepared to get serious. "Aldrin Station was attacked by Cerberus. Admiral. They were given the codes to the station's defense systems by Major Lynda Embry, who turned out to be an undercover Cerberus operative."

"All the project leads, including me, were captured while the rest of the station staff were murdered." I continued, suppressing the urge to pace. "A month later, we managed to escape from Cerberus, only to be attacked by Admiral Catherine Parangosky of the Seventh Fleet above Eden Prime. With nowhere else left to go, we sought out the quarians, who we offered our expertise in exchange for protection. Now here we are."

Hackett simply stared at me for a few seconds, a million thoughts likely rolling through is head.

"So you're the reason why the quarians have the Gravity Drive system?" Hackett asked, as I prepared for the worst. "Your team did all of this in just three years?"

"High expectations are the key to everything." I quoted, thinking back to an old Sam Walton book I had read years ago. "My team and I have worked our blood, sweat, and tears into helping the quarian people these last few years. We've helped give them new ways to build, fight, and even helped find them a new home. I'm proud of what we have done."

A few members of the Conclave slowly began cheering and congratulating me as I remained completely still. It felt kind of good to finally have this off of this chest, though that feeling could easily shatter depending on Hackett's response.

"I think you've done a fine job, son." He simply said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You've given these people a chance to live like the other species of the galaxy, and that is something very commendable."

"Thank you, sir." I nodded, as he offered me a handshake this time around. I accepted it with renewed enthusiasm as we both gave each other a firm shake.

What I didn't know was that this handshake had unofficially sealed the deal.

Half an hour later, the Migrant Fleet and the Systems Alliance were now allies.

…

Serenity Valley, January 24th, 9:57 AM, 2184

…

The last five days had been fairly quiet, despite all the excitement over the Alliance and our new partnership. Like Hackett had promised, it was very hush hush. A little bit of information had trickled in, but it was a slow process. Due to lingering and, frankly, perfectly reasonable paranoia surrounding Cerberus, everything sent was highly encrypted and transmitted through very specific channels.

Nothing too interesting, just a few movement reports and a few technical readouts on this Reaper that was fought at the Citadel. It was made out of some kind of unidentified material of unknown composition. Alliance specialists have apparently been trying to figure out exactly what this stuff was, but weren't getting anywhere fast. He was going to send us a small sample of the material to test later down the line.

Hackett had also been nice enough to send us the reports and investigation docs on the attack on Aldrin. It was… sobering to read through everything, all those poor, innocent people killed, but it was the closest any of us would get to closure.

Even since then, I've spent most of the time back at the homestead, trying to take things easy. The rest of the team seemed to think I had been working a little too hard, and wanted me to take a few "vacation days" off with Mara, who had also been working especially hard.

I think it was their subtle way of giving us a little more "alone time", so to speak. As if we needed any assistance doing that.

Ever since that October night, things have just felt… perfect between us. There were the occasional arguments over some things, sure, but that was normal for any relationship. There exist no healthy relationship in the world where there isn't the occasional disagreement or argument. It was a biological and sociological fact. The only place relationships like that exist are in dumb romantic movies.

Besides, no number of mental barriers or preparation could have prepared me for what she told me this morning.

She was pregnant.

She had found out while I was at the Conclave, but decided to wait a few more days before telling me. I would be lying if I didn't admit I suffered a small initial panic, but it was quickly quashed by one singular fact.

I was going to be a father. A daddy. The thought alone nearly brought me to tears.

We had spent the rest of the morning since her announcement trying to put together a schedule of some sort, along with basic needs and other requirements. There was so much we needed to prepare for now.

"So, we'll need some new clothing. We can either trade up for something in the supply runs, or we can try and put something together ourselves." I said, adding it to our list on the paper in front of me.

"Put something together? You know how to sew?" She asked with a thin smile on her face as she sat on the other side of the table.

"Yeah. My mother taught me when I was younger. Nothing fancy, just the basics." I replied, as an older thought crossed my mind.

"What's wrong?" She asked after a few seconds, cocking her head slightly.

"She would have been so angry that I'm having a child out of wedlock." I realized, trying not to let myself go.

I sat there in silence for a few moments, thinking about everything leading up to this.

"Then why don't we make it official?" She suggested, snapping me out of my thoughts and causing my eyes to shoot up in interest.

"Well… how would we go about that? All the way out here, we only have the bare basics." I replied, putting down my pen and leaning back in my chair.

"It wouldn't have to be anything that involved." She started, getting up and moving to the seat next to me. "We could just arrange a small function in the flat area outside of the houses."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good." I nodded, tugging on my goatee slightly as I continued to mentally put the pieces together in my head. "Invite the whole team and the crew, have a small little party afterwards. Simple."

"When do you think would be a good time to do it?" She asked, leaning her arm on the table as she looked down at the list I had written earlier.

"Hm. How about next week?" I suggested, tapping my pen against my chin as I shot her a raised eyebrow.

…

Serenity Valley, January 31st, 2:30 PM, 2184

…

"Well… how do I look?" I asked all the guys, who were waiting outside for me to get dressed.

Today was the day Mara and I were getting married. I had gone through the effort of getting a nice outfit together. It was a simple button up shirt with a nice black dress coat that Dimitri had traded up for me as a gift. I couldn't express how grateful I was for it. I wore my nice pair of slacks, trimmed my beard and moustache, and made sure my hair was curved just right in the front.

"You look fantastic, Sean!" Jack congratulated as everyone else gave me various nods of approval.

I looked over at Dan, my best man. Even he, with his usual stoic attitude couldn't help but smile.

All the ladies were with Mara in Sira's home. It was far enough away that there was no chance I would see her until it was time.

"So, you two went from instant enemies to this." Richard commented from the couch with crossed arms, as Powell watched from a nearby projector. "Things sure change over time, huh?"

"They sure do." I agreed, looking out of the window down at where the wedding would take place.

The wedding area was fairly simple. It was out on the shuttle pad where the ground was nice and flat, and there were simple, foldable chairs for people to sit on. The only extravagant feature was the lovely holographic pergola that Sira had programmed for us to stand under. It had a warm orange glow to it, and resembled one she had apparently sat under while she was growing up.

As the others began making small talk, Dan walked over and stood next to me.

"Life is a strange thing, isn't it?" I began, staring down at the shuttle pad. "One minute, there's nothing, but the next there could be something new, just through the miracle of nature. We were like that once, dragging ourselves out of the primordial muck to evolve into what we are now. It makes you wonder sometimes."

"Are you going to be alright?" Dan asked in a deadpan, looking harder at me. "You've had t-this odd air about you ever si…since she told you about the pregnancy."

I stayed quiet for a few moments, staring down at my hands for a few moments before looking back at him.

"I keep looking around myself, wondering if I've really truly done enough to keep us safe." I admitted, looking hard at him. "I want nothing more than for you, her, our child… everyone to be safe. I just keep getting these thoughts, these doubting voices asking over and over again if it's really enough."

Dan nodded silently, folding his hands behind his back as we both looked at the mountains.

About half an hour later Dimitri, Jack, and Richard walked outside to take their seats below as Captains Ysin'Mal and Cyi'Keno arrived. We had sent invitations to several other captains and all of the admirals, but I expected that they might be too busy to attend our little wedding. Captain Mal had agreed to administer our vows since I was my own ship's captain.

A little while later, the wedding began. We didn't have any fanfare, but that suited me just fine. I walked down the aisle with Dan right behind me as I looked at everyone who was here. A few captains, Gillian and Hendel, most of our techs and assistants from the lab, and surprisingly, Admiral Zaal'Koris.

Once underneath the holographic pergola, I turned around to face our housing units. Not thirty seconds later, Mara walked out with Sira following closely behind. She was wearing a custom-made white wedding gown with a quarian style hood over her head. Her blond hair was fully permed, and poured out of her hood gracefully as she walked towards us.

She was absolutely beautiful.

As soon as she stepped under the platform, we joined our hands together as Mal began administering the vows.

"Captain Sean Michaels, will you take Mara Ford as your life mate, love her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health so long as you both shall live?" Mal asked, looking from his small datapad as he spoke.

"I do." I confirmed, letting a smile cross my face as I maintained eye contact exclusively with Mara.

"Mara Ford, will you take Captain Sean Michaels as your life mate, love him, honor and keep him in sickness and in health so long as you both shall live?" Mal repeated, looking as her as she too maintained unbroken eye contact.

"I do." She agreed without hesitation, grinning uncontrollably as we both tightened our grips.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your loved one." Mal finished as I pulled Mara in for a long kiss. Everyone around us cheered as we embraced, before things died down and we received our rings from the best man band best woman respectively.

The rings were simple, made out of polished titanium taken from the Explorer. Each had our names inscribed inside, making sure they would forever be between us.

I looked out at everyone as I smiled, holding Mara's hand.

This was now the best day ever.

…

Serenity Valley, February 23rd, 10:21 AM, 2184

…

I sat quietly at our couch, sipping the last of our old coffee shipment down as I put together a list of everything going on with the notepad and pen in front of me.

Things had been very calm over the last few weeks since our wedding. We've been working on calmer, less extensive and dangerous projects as of late, but they had the potential to be some of the most interesting ones yet.

Dimitri and Dan had taken a break from weapons development to work on an experimental ship cloaking system based on older, personal models developed for Alliance spec ops teams. It wasn't going anywhere fast. We had to reproduce the personal model before we could even thing about making one that could envelop a starship. Still, the ability to completely mask a starship from visual detection was a very cool prospect.

Jack and Sira were working on some kind of "hush hush" shielding system, one that would be twice as effective as normal, military-grade kinetic barriers. They were currently trying to solve issues regarding energy projection from what I've heard, leading me to believe that they could be developing a "true" energy shield. Jack had asked again if I would help with the emitter problem, but I was still a little reluctant to delve into Dan and I's old research. I told him I'd consider it.

Richard, Powell and Lydia had started working on something a little more low-key. They were trying to work up some standardized upgrades for quarian envirosuits, picking up where Sira and I had left off a few months ago. So far, they had a working, self-sealing layer for suit punctures and a few other small mods that could later be produced for quarian suits after a few months. Just a few small improvements like this could really make a difference for all the quarians.

Mara and I have been overseeing the construction of our soon-to-be new research center located under one of the mountains near Serenity Valley. It was going to replace our old lab which was hastily built for us at Camp Dolor shortly after we colonized the system. The new labs would be in a much safer location, would have much better power management, and would provide us with independent staff quarters, offices, and even a hydroponics lab where we could grow human crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and coffee beans.

I had dubbed it CASTLE Base. I would never stop making references to The Fall of Reach.

Rael and Gerrel had a large stake in this new lab. They had a whole separate research lab off of ours being built. They hadn't explicitly told me what it was for, though I did know that Rael's research team from the Alarei would be setting up shop in there when it was ready. I was in no position to argue with them, though. They were still angry with me for the little "stunt" I pulled during the talks with Hackett.

I looked back down at the datapad off to my side, taking the time to look back over the old walker designs we recovered back in September. It was a two-legged beast that had four mass accelerator cannons, two missile pods, and a small cutting laser. It seemed to be a derivative of the old Atlas mechs temporarily fielded by the Alliance a decade ago.

The interesting part, though, was the size. It was a whole four stories tall, completely dwarfing any previously fielded designs currently known to us. If anything, it reminded me more of some of the designs I had seen from the old BattleTech games, specifically the Archer mechs. There were obvious differences, but the comparison had been made.

Even though the design was impressive, I still had no idea how the turians had planned to power this thing. The power demands for the legs alone would have been massive for conventional mass effect cores. If they were to use cores alone to power this thing, they'd need at least four.

The idea that Dimitri, Dan and I had been knocking around was to make a prototype directly mimicking the original design, then slowly modify it from there. We'd start it off with a Mk.4 Nemo-Michaels reactor for power, then see what else we could do with the design.

I downed the last few drops of my coffee, threw on my surplus jacket, and grabbed a box of my belongings as I began my ten minute walk to CASTLE Base. Right now it was just a dirt path made to connect our little villa to the facility, but it would be covered over with concrete at another time.

The outside of the facility was actually fairly large. Originally, one of the quarian mining ships had set up here and cleared away a lot of the area surveying for alkali metals such as potassium and sodium. Unfortunately, not only had they set up too close to our homestead, but there wasn't any significant alkali metal concentrations here anyway. They pulled out a week later, leaving us with this nice flat area at the base of the mountain to work with.

Based on our geology reports, this mountain used to be volcanic thousands, perhaps millions of years ago. There were large, empty magma shafts all throughout the mountain that had seen years and years of erosion from water, ice, and natural seismic activity. They were perfect for building CASTLE Base.

I walked up to the front gate at the beginning of the clearing, flashing my ID to the guard on duty as I walked right into the surface facility. Here, there were hangers and other smaller buildings that would be used for various projects once the base was operational. Right now they were being used to store construction materials.

At the base of the mountain there was a very large blast door currently set in the open position. Once inside, the entire thing became a labyrinth of hallways, rooms, and maintenance passages as the facility delved deeper and deeper into the mountain. In the heart of the mountain was a Nemo-Michaels reactor of similar build to the one we had designed for Cairo Station. It provided more than enough energy for the entire facility and the surrounding areas.

I walked into my new completed office, taking in how nice it was. I had it custom designed to be the best office a man could ask for. It was 20 by 15, a nice fair size, and the edges of the ceiling were lined with lights that provided good illumination. My desk was made out of solid oak and polished to a sheen, and my chair was made out of genuine leather provided by Kirva. My back wall was made of oak paneling that I had cut and treated myself, giving my room a slight wood smell.

I put down my box, taking a seat in my new chair before taking the lid off. Inside were a few personal items, knick-knacks, physical pictures, my personal computer, and a few data drives. All the basics. I began with the pictures, focusing hard on each one before putting them on the wood paneling.

The first one was of me and Dan at our high school graduation at UMBC. We were both wearing our blue robes and mortarboards, clutching our diplomas as big old smiles crossed our faces. It was one of the few remnants of our old lives that survived both our jump and the destruction of Aldrin.

The second was a group photo of all seven of us in the old atrium at Aldrin. It was a pretty well shot photo. Dan and I were near the front as Dimitri towered behind us. Off to my side was Jack and Sira, while to Dan's was Mara and Richard. We all looked rather neutral to be honest. Neither angry nor happy. I kept it around mostly because it was the only picture of all of us together.

The third was a simple picture of the SSV _Explorer_ before it was stolen by Cerberus and shot to hell by the Seventh Fleet. The old girl was still something to be admired. The first ship to achieve superluminal speeds with the use of a Gravity Drive. That was no small feat. It still served us well, even to this day.

The last picture was a lot newer than the others. It was of me and Mara on our wedding day. Sira had taken it the moment we began walking down the aisle again. We both looked so happy, I couldn't help but smile thinking back to that day. I looked down at my ring, nodding slightly as I placed the photo carefully on the wall.

As I began to empty the rest of the box contents on my desk, my omni-tool began beeping loudly. I checked the I.D., seeing it was our mining foreman Baena'Loen vas Hochiss. She was in charge of the teams clearing away space for the lower levels of the facility.

"What's up, Baena?" I casually inquired, opening the channel as I continued to remove items from my box.

"_Sir, we've run into something down here that you need to see._" She replied with some urgency in her voice, causing me to immediately stop and pay full attention.

"What did your team run into?" I asked, my mind suddenly racing as to what it could be.

"_We don't know. All we know is that it isn't natural._" She answered as I stared off into space for a second before replying.

"I'm on my way. Keep your crew away from whatever this thing is until I get there." I finished, cutting the line as I ran out of my office to the lifts. I punched in the lowest floor where the dig was, tapping my foot in anticipation as a million thought raced through my head.

Once the lift hit the bottom with a clunk, I walked out, grabbing a hard hat and throwing it on as I went into the mine shaft. Normally, the tunnels would be echoing with the sounds of jackhammers and other mining equipment, but at the moment they were completely silent.

I followed the guideline to the newest section of the dig, seeing that all the miners in the area had stopped and were now staring at something through a fresh opening in the cave walls. I nudged them aside, seeing some kind of technological structure before me. It was lined with solid green lines that slowly pulsed, giving this part of the cavern an odd, alien glow.

"Sir, we ran into this four minutes ago. Two of my men were expanding the cavern walls when the wall broke down revealing this." Baena explained as we both began walking towards it. "No one has been allowed near the structure since we've found it."

"Any idea what this thing is?" I asked, having a hard time trying to determine exactly what it was I was looking at.

"No sir, but one of my men suggested that it might be Prothean." She answered as I got slightly closer.

The structure looked like a close knit series of obelisks. They had a brown, almost dull gold look to them along with the aforementioned green "lights" along the outside. The walls of the chamber seemed to have done their job fairly well, though the walls on our side had collapsed.

"Sir?" Baena said, jolting me out of the gaze I had let myself fall into.

"Cordon off this entire area until further notice." I ordered, pointing slightly at her as I got extremely serious. "I need to get some equipment down here, along with the rest of my research staff."

"Yes sir." She finished, nodding slightly before running off to get the rest of her dig team out of the cavern.

In the complete stillness of the now empty chamber, I stared curiously at the artifact.

"What secrets could you be holding?" I asked out loud, letting out a deep sign as I opened up my omni-tool to call my friends.

This was going to be a busy day.

…

**A/N: So, an unofficial partnership between the Alliance and the Migrant Fleet, pregnancy, weddings, and a new find underneath CASTLE Base. What will this new discovery reveal to our intrepid scientists? Tune in later to find out.**

**I'd like to apologize if this chapter seems a bit disjointed or oddly structured. I've been struggling to write this through the hellishness and chaos that is finals week, and it's really taken a toll on my concentration. The next chapters will be of much higher quality, I promise.**

**For those of you interested, the mech that Sean and his friends are slated to begin building is based pretty verbatim off of the Archer series of mechs from the BattleTech universe. I was specifically inspired by the redesign of the Archer mech done by Shimmering-Sword on deviantART. It's a badass heavy design that just oozes power and destruction.**

**Also, I have closed the poll for the story theme! The winner was Harry Gregson-Williams's Science The Shit Out Of This from The Martian soundtrack. Great choice! Even if your person choice didn't win, I'd still like to thank everyone who participated in the poll. You guys rock!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	25. Recollection

…

"Are you a blessing or a curse, good or evil? Be what you will! You are destiny!"

(Black And White)

…

CASTLE Base, February 23rd, 2:12 PM, 2184

…

The last few hours have moved pretty fast, and I felt nearly as excited as a kid in a candy shop.

After getting my friends down here to get a look at the artifact, we began pulling every single piece of research equipment down here that we could. Energy readers, spectrometers, 3D imaging scanners, and a whole host of other advanced equipment.

Sira, Jack and Richard all agreed that it was indeed of Prothean origin, especially Jack, who said it looked just like the Prothean archives on Mars. Back when he was younger, he was there when they first found them. If this really was some kind of archive, it could contain many years of advanced technology.

In his own words, the archives on Mars propelled human technology forward nearly two hundred years. I had no reason to doubt his expertise.

I continued to monitor the energy readings on the portable console, looking between it and the artifact. The levels seemed to fluctuate in a predictable pattern, though I still had no idea if this was natural, or the result of pre-existing damage.

"Dimitri, have you been able to detect anything dangerous coming from the artifact?" I asked, looking over at him in his hazard suit as he slowly scanned it from a distance with one of Dan's terahertz locators.

"_No, other than energy fluctuations and heat coming from inside, it seems perfectly safe_." He replied over the radio before pulling off his mask and taking a deep breath. "I'm sweating to death in this thing."

"Any idea why it's em…emitting so much heat?" Dan asked, walking over to the edge of the platform as he pulled off his coat and draped it over a nearby crate.

"The Protheans used a unique form of data storage in these structures derived off of microwaves." Jack explained, walking over to the two of us with a curious look in his eyes. "Due to the way they they've stored it, it emits a lot of heat. If you were above those little pylons, your body water would boil in less than a minute."

"And here I was starting to think they were running off of RTGs." I commented, leaning on the computer console as Jack looked back at me with a confused look on his face.

"I thought I was supposed to be to be the old one here." He shot back, causing me to chuckle slightly. "The heat is actually a good sign. That means there's likely to be more information stored here."

"So if this really is a set of Prothean archives like the ones on Mars, how we should go about accessing them?" Mara asked with crossed arms as she walked over from the spectrometer.

"Well, on Mars, we ended up using an advanced electromagnetic scanner to read the signals." He further explained, walking around the archives on the circular platform. "The Protheans figured out how to actually store this information as opposed to just transmitting it like we typically do. It's actually comparable to that of high energy D-band transmission bouncing continuously back and forth."

"So if we got a scanner capable of reading these signals, how would you translate them into decipherable data?" Mara questioned further, looking between the archives and Jack as Dimitri walked back over to us.

Before he could answer her, we heard a small amount of commotion from the entrance. We looked back to see all five Admirals were here.

"Oh boy." Dan remarked, taking in a deep breath at the sight of them. I was, admittedly, still very worried about pissing off Gerrel and Rael any more than I had already.

Who knows, perhaps this find would help calm them down.

"Admirals." I greeted with my hands folded behind my back.

"Captain Michaels." Raan returned as they all stopped and stared at the archives.

"So this is what you found." Koris commented, staring up at them much like we had.

"Baena'Loen and her dig team uncovered this about four hours ago." I began to explain, slowly walking around the thing as all five Admirals followed me. "My team and I are certain that it is of Prothean origin."

"Keelah, this could change everything." Raan said as we all stared up at the uppermost obelisk. "An undisturbed Prothean relic… we haven't seen anything like this in over a millennia!"

"I know this is all very exciting, Admirals, but we need to set up a containment field around the archive as soon as possible." Jack interrupted with a slight frantic tone to his usually calm voice. "The excess oxygen in the air carries the potential to damage it."

"Understood doctor." Rael agreed in a rather calm voice, nodding to him. "We'll have a field around it in less than an hour. What type of environment should it be?"

"It should be a cold, -24 degree Celsius nitrogen atmosphere. No oxygen, no carbon dioxide." Jack quickly answered as Rael nodded his head and took down his commands on his omni-tool.

"Well Captain, you and your team are just full of surprises." Gerrel commented, standing directly next to me as he stared up at it with me. "I'm still confused though… I thought our original preliminary scans would have picked up something like this beforehand."

"I thought so too, but apparently there was enough iron content in the rock to bounce away the signal." I replied, picking up a rust-colored rock. "Then again, the structure itself could have deflected our scans."

"Sean, the 3D scan is f-finished!" Dan announced with a smile on his face as we all walked over to the large projector we had set up. We now had a full holographic readout of the structure itself.

"Wow, it goes down a fair distance." Mara said, pointing at the largest part of the archives. "That's almost a quarter of a mile deep!"

"This could be the greatest find of century!" Dimitri remarked with a lot of energy. "I can only imagine possibilities…"

Before I could join in on the brewing conversation, Rael walked over to me and acted as a wall between me and my friends.

"Doctor, can I speak with you for a moment? In private?" He asked, sounding cool and collected as opposed to annoyed and angry like normal.

"Yeah, sure." I agreed as we began walking away from the research area towards a slightly more secluded end of the room.

"I didn't originally want to bring this up with you, doctor, but Gerrel insisted that you know." He began, opening up a radar readout on his omni-tool. "Last night, we received two pings on the edge of the system from our radar buoys. It suddenly appeared and disappeared after a few seconds around twenty-four hundred hours, then reappeared and disappeared again around zero two hundred hours."

I looked closely at the readout, looking at how quickly it appeared and disappeared.

"It looks like a ship jumped into the system and activated some kind of stealth countermeasure." I hypothesized, pointing as what looked to me like a spatial distortion around the signature.

"We suspected that as well. We believe someone is spying on our system." He said, his voice actually getting a lot lower. "Considering we're already in a so-called "partnership" with the Alliance, there's only one other group I can think of that has access to technology like this."

"Cerberus." I guessed as Rael nodded his head.

"I want this level's security to be you and your team's top priority, doctor." He replied, looking back at the archives. "In the meantime, we'll be deploying drones with better radar and laser scanners just to keep a closer eye on the system borders. If anything at all happens to this artifact, I'm holding you and your team responsible."

With that, he walked off wordlessly with the rest of the Admirals as I watched.

"Jawohl, Mein Führer." I mocked as they exited the cavern, getting a laugh out of Dan.

Things could never be simple.

…

CASTLE Base, March 20th, 2:49 AM, 2184

…

_*BEEP BEEP BEEP*_

My eyes shot open as my personal alarm went off, waking me up. It jolted me so bad that I nearly fell out of my chair. Again.

"Ah, for Christ's sake…" I exclaimed, rubbing the rheum out of the corners of my eyes as I leaned back up and checked the time on my omni-tool. I groaned when I realized it was the middle of the night.

I allowed myself to acclimatize for a few seconds before I checked my coffee cup. It was half filled and stone cold, but it would do the trick. I downed it all in one motion, wiping the remnants out of my moustache as I looked around the room to see if anyone else was here.

After our big discovery last month, the Admirals pushed a lot of fresh resources our way to help support research on the archives. The entire area was now completely covered head-to-toe in new walls, all brand new and polished to a shine. The archives at the end of the room towered above all else and were now protected behind a pressurized layer of starship-grade ballistic glass.

The Archives were located on Sublevel 12 of the base, underneath of the other eleven sublevels. Due to the sensitivity of the Archives, we stopped digging here at twelve and decided to expand outwards instead.

After determining that there was, in fact, no one else in the room with me, I checked the console I had been sleeping next to. The deciphering process looked as if it was finally finished, much to my happiness. The amount of time it took to read the signals and translate them into readable data reminded me of my gaming days where it would take hours to download games off of Steam. It was not fun in the slightest.

I pulled my chair up and focused on the raw data in front of me. As usual, it was heavily jumbled, and thus unreadable. I turned on the auto organizer subroutine and leaned back in my chair once more as I opened up my omni-tool to view the latest news from the rest of the galaxy.

Apparently, all the damage from the attack on the Citadel has been repaired. The damage had been extensive enough that it took several months before they could declare certain portions of the Citadel safe for living. I suspected that this had actually been a cover for the major governments to collect as many pieces of Nazara as they possibly could for study. I couldn't blame them, it was one hell of a beast.

Thinking back to the Reapers, I opened up the latest results on the Reaper material that Hackett had sent us on my omni-tool. It was a twenty kilo sample, a fair chunk, and had been from one of Nazara's "tentacles." It was an extremely hard material, whatever it was. We were having trouble just scanning the substance, let alone determining its exact chemical composition.

Based on what we knew so far, it was an incredibly dense material with properties similar to tungsten and osmium, but containing an extremely high number of polymers. These polymers were the baffling part, because we could not identify them. Our best guess at the moment was that they were biopolymers, but I still couldn't understand how that could be possible. If these current results were indeed correct, that would suggest this thing was an organic hybrid of some kind.

Essentially, a living starship.

The idea alone scared the hell out of me.

The console beeped, drawing my attention away from the chart and back to the Prothean data. Now that it was all organized in a logical pattern, I could actually see what this latest batch of data involved.

Much to my initial disappointment, it first appeared to be nothing but basic information about the system's star. It noted rotation times, top temperatures, and all the other basic information you'd expect to know about a star. Fortunately, I kept delving a little deeper into the information, and discovered something rather strange.

Apparently back when the Protheans were still around, the star here used to emit a lot more electromagnetic and particle radiation than it was supposed to, enough that it easily penetrated the planetary field of Reach and bombarded the surface. Mid-sized stars aren't supposed to emit that kind of energy during this point in their lifetimes. They only do this when they're about to become red giants or collapse onto themselves.

This brought to mind a lot of questions. First off, if the star was emitting this kind of radiation before, how did it stop? It would take an immense amount of energy to effect a star on the macro scale. The second was how Reach's biosphere managed to survive this radiation. According to the data, it was intense enough to fry every organic element on the planet, no matter how resilient. The third and last one was why the hell the Protheans were so interested in this. Why did they care about the life cycle of a star? I didn't understand the purpose of all of this. The location of these archives would suggest that they were buried here so they would be shielded from the star's radiation.

I wrote it off for now and logged it into the archive database. I would look at all of this more at a later time. For now, I needed to go find another cup of coffee.

…

CASTLE Base, March 22nd, 1:49 PM, 2184

…

"Alright, move it back slowly!" I shouted to the forklift operator as I slowly backpedaled and gestured in my direction with both hands.

The new crate of Gen IV exosuits had just arrived from Dolor, and just in time for CASTLE Base to fully go into operation. These eight suits would be the first of many to outfit our primary security force, along with our newest line of Mk III Plasma Guns. Six of these guys would be guarding the primary surface access, while the other two would go to our guards outside of Sublevel 12.

This place would be as tight as Fort Knox.

"OK…OK… good!" I said, as the crate was lowered down. "Good job, we'll take it from here!"

Me and one of the lab assistants pried open the container to reveal the shiny new suits in all their full glory. The finalized helmet design was a lot like a normal quarian helmet, but it was reinforced with retractable armor plating around the visor. It looked a tiny bit like Isaac Clarke's helmet from the Dead Space series.

My omni-tool then beeped as I received a private message. At first, I expected it to be from one of the Admirals, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was from Mara.

"_Hey handsome, I just wanted to let you know that it's gotten a bit worse since this morning and won't be able to come to the lab today._" The audio message said with Mara indeed sounding a little under the weather. "_Knock'em dead for me, hun._"

I smiled and nodded in an understanding fashion, closing my omni-tool. Nearly three months into the pregnancy, and she was starting to suffer from random bouts of morning sickness. It was natural and nothing to worry about, though it made her extremely nauseated.

I banished the thought from my head as I ran over to Hanger 5 where Jack and Sira were waiting for me.

Dan and I had finally agreed to release a little bit of our old SDD project information to help them make emitters capable of producing this energy shield. It took a lot of time to break down the mental barriers, but in the end we decided that having a shielding system like this would be more important than our feelings on the past.

I walked into Hanger 5, seeing Jack and Sira on top of a platform overlooking their prototype below. I climbed the stairs up to meet them, pulling my datapad out of my back pocket and extending it as I walked.

"Greetings Sean!" Jack said in an enthusiastic tone as all three of us shook hands. "We've almost finished setting up the test prototype below."

"We've been running smaller tests sporadically for the last two weeks, though we've yet to create a field that sustains itself for more than seventy-four seconds." Sira began to explain, twirling a stylus between her fingers. "We're hoping you and Dan's old emitter designs can help us solve this issue."

"You two are entirely sure that the fault lies in the emitters?" I questioned one last time, looking hard at the prototype below before looking back at them.

"Yes, we knew that the emitters were going to be the root problem even during the concept stage." Jack answered, nodding his head quickly.

I took a deep breath, pondering everything one more time before making up my mind.

"Alright, here's the reconstructed design of the SDD energy emitters." I caved, handing them the datapad with the relevant information. "They utilize excited, pure silver conductors to generate a field. The field itself was maintained by background electrons."

Jack and Sira mulled over the schematics for a few moments before Jack finally spoke up.

"These technically aren't even emitters, they're electron exciters." He remarked with an amazed look on his face.

"Correct, though for technical reasons we referred to them as emitters." I replied, walking over and pointing at the hexagonal panels. "When six of these focus in on a single point at full power, you can actually see the electrons trapped in the field."

"That's incredible!" Sira gushed, giddy movement taking over her normal subdued body language. "If we build these and upgrade them with a mass effect field condenser, we should have no trouble maintaining the energy field!"

As Jack and Sira juggled ideas between one another, I casually looked down at the entrance of the hanger to see Admirals Han'Gerrel and Rael'Zorah approaching.

"God damn it." I exclaimed, confusing Jack and Sira. "I'll be back in a bit, Admirals are coming."

They both nodded at me in acknowledgement before going back to their ideas as I made my way back down the platform.

"We've been looking for you, doctor." Rael greeted, several datapads tucked underneath his arm as I shook their hands.

"What's going on? I already mentioned there were no significant discoveries from the Archives in my weekly report." I asked, knowing they wouldn't be here in person if it wasn't important.

"This isn't about the Archives, doctor, this is about something entirely different." Rael corrected, handing Koris the datapads.

"While on a routine patrol yesterday, one of our cruisers made visual contact with one of these "stealth ships" that have been making incursions into our system." Koris began to explain, handing me a datapad with an incident report on it. "It jumped into the system within nearly a hundred meters of the _Arroyo_, right in front of the three ship patrol. They managed to disable the ship's engines before it could escape."

"We then sent the _Limpiar_ over to board the ship with teams of marines equipped with Gen IV exosuits and plasma rifles." Rael continued, beginning to pace back and forth. "The crew of this ship was not ready for them in the slightest. Out of the thirty seven people onboard the ship, twenty two were killed during the taking of the ship and the other fifteen surrendered, including their Captain."

"Who are they?" I asked, looking hard at both of them.

"Cerberus." Gerrel answered, plunging my gut into the metaphorical toilet. "As far as we've been able to tell, they've been watching the system for the last three months. We're not sure exactly how their stealth system operates, but we do know that they've somehow found a way to mask the engine signature."

"OK… so what do you want from me?" I asked, knowing they wouldn't be telling me all of this unless they needed my help.

"We've secured the ship and are having it moved into orbit." Rael started, putting all the datapads back under his arm. "We want you to get your team together and take a shuttle up there to figure out as much as you can about this ship. We're mostly concerned with the stealth system, but if you can also figure out where the ship came from and retrieve any data off of its computers, that'll be a plus."

"Well, I don't see why we can't go up there, but my wife is currently suffering from a bad bout of morning sickness." I replied, putting my hands into my pocket. "She won't be able to come."

"I'm sure you'll be able to make up for her absence." Rael dismissed quickly, ticking me off slightly.

"We'll have a shuttle waiting for you at your dwellings in one hour. Be ready by then." Gerrel finished as he and Rael walked back off.

"What's the word, Sean?" Jack asked from the top of the platform as I whipped around to face him and Sira.

"We've had a change of plans." I answered, filling my lungs with air as I mentally prepped myself for another long day. "Pack up your stuff and close down the hangar while I go and tell the others. We've got ourselves something new to study."

…

Quarian Shuttle "Skippy", March 22nd, 2:57 PM, 2184

…

I nervously played with my wedding ring as the shuttle broke free of Reach's atmosphere. All five of us were crammed in this tiny little shuttle with our equipment and all. It was rather claustrophobic. Richard had refused to participate in the mission because he had developed agoraphobia after our little jumping stunt on the Geth derelict. He was now scared to death of space… among other things.

I looked slowly between Dan, Sira, Dimitri and Jack, trying to gauge their expressions as best I could but with no avail. Everyone had the same depressed deadpan. None of us wanted to be out here today, we wanted to work on our own projects.

This ship that the patrol had disabled was apparently some kind of frigate, and it wasn't even armed with any major weapons. It was now barely operable and unable to move under its own power due to engine damage.

"So, you d-don't seem too… happy about this." Dan commented next to me, hands folded.

"You've read my mind." I replied with a bit of sarcasm as I kept my eyes focused on my wedding ring. "The last thing I wanted to do today was go into space. We had a whole testing regiment set up for today, then this happens."

"Are you w-worried about it?" Dan asked, as I looked at him with some minor confusion. "Worried about what we mig…might find?"

I stared at him for a few seconds, pondering his question.

"No, just annoyed." I replied, quickly going back to fidgeting with my wedding ring.

A few moments later there was a clank as we landed inside the hangar of the frigate.

"Well… let's get to work." I aspirated, taking in another deep breath as the shuttle door opened, revealing a hanger that was only slightly bigger than the one in the _Explorer_.

If the interior of the hangar was any indication, the ship was in bad shape. Electrical conduits were busted and exposed, emergency power was on, panels from the walls were strewn everywhere, and there was evidence of fire and plasma damage. The patrol had really fucked up this ship. We were lucky that we didn't need our helmets for this endeavor. Looking off to the other side of the hangar, I could see a row of bodies covered up by little more than white sheets. They were soaked with blood.

I could only hope there was still enough left of this to successfully salvage. Repairing a ship with a stealth system would be easier than trying to reproduce the system outright.

"Welcome to the ship, Captain." The sergeant in charge greeted, nodding to me as he held his rifle with both hands. "I took over after the boarding teams left."

"So it's just you and…" I staggered, looking harder at him.

"My squad, sir." He finished, motioning towards one of the men in question. "There are seven of us. We've already investigated all the possible hiding spots where anyone could had avoided detection."

I nodded in approval as I turned back to my team.

"Jack, Sira, you two go to engineering and see what kind of drive core and power plant they've been using. Dimitri, Dan, we're going up to the bridge and the CIC." I ordered as we split up into our respective groups. "Radio in on the usual channel if you run across anything interesting."

"Understood." Sira nodded as she and Jack walked off to the back of the hangar where the entrance to engineering is.

The rest of us entered the elevator only to find that it had been knocked out.

"Well, it looks like we will be climbing." Dimitri remarked with and upbeat attitude to his voice as he grabbed the bars and began the climb. Dan followed behind him as I took up the rear.

About halfway up the elevator shaft, a piece of debris clunked its way down, bouncing my way as it hit my backpack and barely missed my head.

"God damn it!" I exclaimed as I gripped the ladder rungs much harder.

"Are you alright, my friend?" Dimitri asked, trying to get a look at me past Dan, who simply looked worried.

"Let's just get the hell out of here." I shook off, taking a quick moment to dry the sweat off of my individual hands before continuing.

Once at the top, we were immediately faced with the CIC, which wasn't actually in bad shape compared to the lower decks. Many of the consoles up here were still in working order, which boded well for the work we had to do. I looked as the nearest marine, who's body language was entirely subdued by the Gen III exo he was wearing.

"You guys all climbed that? Wearing those?" I asked with a small bit of bewilderment obvious in my voice.

"It wasn't easy." The marine replied simply, not uttering another word as he stared back forward.

I shook my head in dismissal as I pulled off my backpack, carrying it in my left hand as I made my way to the bridge. Dan and Dimitri were going to investigate the CIC while I did the same there.

Inside, it bore a striking resemblance to the one we have on the Explorer, down to a tee. The only difference that I could nitpick were the comms and weapons consoles having their places switched.

"Alright, let's see what we can find." I said to myself as I pulled my portable terminal out of my backpack and linked it directly to navigation. In less than a minute, I was in the system.

I had to give the quarians credit, not only were they talented engineers, but they are much better code breakers than any of us. I think they're good enough that they could've given Alan Turing a run for his money, and he was a bloody genius.

I scrolled through all the navigational data as it automatically downloaded, trying to see where the ship had been, where it had come from, all that jazz. It looked as if this ship had been here dozens of times in the last few months, and I had serious doubt that this was the only ship of its kind based on the gaps in the movement charts alone.

I was hoping that navigation would also contain some information on this mystery stealth drive, but alas, no luck. I figured that if it wasn't in navigation, it would instead be in engineering.

"Hey, have either of you two found anything interesting?" I asked over the comm channel, hoping to be enlightened.

"_No, we're trying to get main power restored at the moment._" Jack replied, the sounds of tools hitting the deck clearly heard. "_The reactor doesn't seem to be damaged, we don't know why it would be disabled_."

"Well, be careful. I don't want either of you two getting injured by a shitty knockoff of our reactor system." I finished, cutting off the line as I unhooked from navigation and moved over to communications to see if I could pick up any recordings or comm frequencies.

While I was in the process of decrypting the comm station, I could feel the ship rumble as the reactor turned back on. I smiled, looking back to my console to monitor the process. Then, without warning, the ship shuttered violently as it somehow made a gravity drive jump.

"What the… Jack! What is going on?!" I questioned before suddenly getting angry, shouting into the comm channel.

"_I don't know! A few moments after the reactor started back up, the gravity drive charged up and made a jump!_" He answered with a sudden distraught tone as the sound of the drive in operation nearly drowned him out.

"Is there any way we can stop it?" I asked quickly, trying to come up with possible solutions while my mind was still processing what happened.

"_I could try to stop it in mid operation, but that could end up killing all of us!_" He hypothesized, sounding very worried.

"What's going on?" Dimitri asked as he and Dan ran into the bridge with equally confused looks on their faces.

"Somehow we've made a jump. Jack and I are still trying to figure out just what the hell happened." I replied, looking over at the communication console to see where the hell we were going. "Apparently, we're going towards the Titan Nebula."

"Wait, Titan Nebula?" Dimitri repeated with surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, thinking about it for a few moments before it dawned on me.

Back when we interrogated Lynda a year ago, she mentioned that a Cerberus facility known as "The Barn" was located in the Titan Nebula. That could only lead to one conclusion.

This ship and everything that led up to it, it was all a trap. And we had walked right into it.

We would be surrounded by Cerberus in less than fifteen minutes.

…

**A/N: Cliffhangers are fun for authors, you know? It's fun to leave the audience guessing.**

**Anyways, I was still in recovery mode from my spring finals while writing this chapter, so once again I apologize if anything seems slightly disjointed or oddly structured. I've been fighting a bad case of writer's block ever since I failed my math course. I hope it is acceptable.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	26. Apartheid

…

"I remember, May 1944. I was 15-and-a-half, and I was thrown into a haunted universe where the story of the human adventure seemed to swing irrevocably between horror and malediction. "

(Elie Wiesel)

…

Unidentified Cerberus Frigate, March 22nd, 3:19 PM, 2184

…

For the first time in several years, I had no idea what to do. I was trying my best to regulate my breathing, but it wasn't doing much. With all the ship systems locked and no way to stop the jump without reducing ourselves to subatomic particles, we were thoroughly trapped.

We had all met up in the hangar to try and come up with possible solutions. We had nothing. We were down to seven minutes before the jump was completed.

"There's got to be s-something we can do, there's got to b-be something!" Dan repeated out loud to himself as he paced back and forth.

"No, there isn't." Dimitri rejected in a calm tone, his eyes closed as he thought about the current situation. "Even if we did have control of ship, we would need three minutes to charge drive again. Cerberus will certainly have ships waiting for us."

I looked up at Dan, and I could see the transition from cool to furious happen in seconds.

"Fuck!" Dan shouted, grabbing a piece of metal and chucking it across the hanger as he lost control of himself. "These pieces of shit are not getting us without a fight! I'm not letting them do what they did to us after Aldrin again! Never again!"

"They only want _us_ alive, Dan. If we try to fight back, they'll kill every last one of these men without a second thought." I said, nodding to the group of quarian marines on the other side of the hanger. "If we surrender and just do what they tell us to do, maybe they'll spare them."

"You want to give up and surrender?" Dan questioned with venom dripping from his voice. "You just want to give up?! What happened to the Sean I knew?! He would have fought these bastards alongside me until the end!"

"Screw you!" I yelled, standing up from my crate and getting in his face. "I'm not going to risk the lives of these men! It's my duty as a ship's captain to protect everyone under my command, and I'm not going to let a blood knight jeopardize that!"

"Both of you, knock it off!" Jack demanded, putting himself between us. "This isn't what we need right now!"

The volume of Jack's voice actually shook me, considering I had never heard him significantly raise his voice before. I took a moment to look at both him and Dan before I lowered my head.

"Sean has point, Dan." Dimitri said, arms folded as he stared at us. "Despite how undesirable the thought may be, it is true. There exist no chance for Cerberus to spare sergeant and his squad if we fight back."

"Sira! Isn't there something you can think of?" Dan asked, grasping at straws to try and find a solution.

"No." She answered, barely keeping herself from breaking down as she focused on the deck plates with a deadened look in her eyes.

Dan's face then sagged slightly as his face relaxed, switching from "pissed off" to "defeated." I had only seen his face like this one other time my entire life. He put his back to the shuttle, letting himself slide down to the floor.

"Sean, you should tell the men before we enter system what is happening." Dimitri suggested, as I tore my gaze away from Dan and back to them.

I took in a deep breath as I walked over to the men on the other side of the hanger, knowing they weren't going to like this.

"What's the word, Captain?" The sergeant asked as all six of his men turned to focus on me.

I hesitated for a second before speaking up. I really didn't want to give an order like this.

"There's no way we're going to avoid capture, sergeant." I announced as he and his men shuffled slightly. "The best thing we can do right now is surrender and live to fight another day. If we attempt to repel borders, there's nothing stopping them from killing you and your men."

He stayed silent for a few moments as a couple of his men shook their heads or gestured in another fashion.

"I… understand sir." He slowly acknowledged, taking on a somber tone much like the rest of us. "I'll have my men surrender their weapons and destroy their exos."

"I'm so sorry, sergeant." I tried to comfort, putting my hand on one of his shoulders.

"It's alright sir. I understand." He finished, turning back to his men as I walked back to our group.

"It's done." I informed, letting another staggered breath out as I reached under my coat and undid my shoulder holster, pulling my 1911 out along with my two additional mags. I threw it to the deck.

Dan and Dimitri pulled out their firearms and did the same before we all stood there in silence.

Several minutes later, the ship shuttered as we completed our jump. A feeling of dread filled my stomach as I waited for the inevitable.

We felt something make contact with the ship half a minute later. They then began cutting through the hull to get inside of the ship, showering sparks all over the hanger deck near us.

"Dan, promise me one thing." I said as we all watched the cutting torch make its way through the hull.

"What's that?" He replied without breaking eye contact.

"If I don't get out of here, take care of my child." I asked, a single tear making its way into my right eye.

He turned and looked at me without a word, not saying another word as the torch stopped and the heavy piece of hull plating hit the hanger deck with a loud bang.

Over a dozen Cerberus commandos wearing thick heavy armor then rushed through the breach, immediately noticing all of us in the corner of the hanger. We all raised out hands as they raised their rifles towards us.

"_Get down on the ground!_" They demanded in heavily distorted voices as all twelve of us complied, getting down on the cold metal deck.

They encircled us very quickly as several policed our weapon pile. They then began slapping plastic handcuffs on our wrists to make sure we couldn't try anything. One of them then took a scanner to Dimitri, Jack, Dan, and I, ignoring our escorts.

"_These are the two we're looking for._" One of the commandos said to someone I couldn't see.

Dan and I were then pulled up by our cuffs and dragged in front of their commander, who wore no helmet and slightly different armor than the rest of them. He examined us for a few moments before speaking.

"Doctor Michaels, I presume you're the one in charge here?" He asked, hands folded behind his back.

"That's Captain Michaels to you." I defiantly corrected, looking down at the floor to avoid his eyes.

"Are there any more of you on this ship?" He asked, getting in my face so I'd focus on him again. He had dirty blond hair, a clean shaven face, and thankfully, didn't have bad breath.

"No, it's just me, my four colleagues, and our seven marine guards." I answered truthfully, not wanting to give them any reason to hurt anyone.

The commander then looked from side to side as if he were looking for something.

"Are you sure, doctor?" He asked, giving me a snide look. "If I find anyone else aboard this ship that you aren't telling me about, you're not going to like what happens next."

"I swear, there is no one else here." I repeated, pausing for a few moments before he gave out a huff of approval.

"Take the doctors to section three, and send these… marines to section four." He ordered one of his men before looking back to me. "You're lucky, Michaels. The Director ordered no unnecessary use of force."

"Maybe I should thank him." I replied, getting a little flippant in my tone as I cracked a small smile.

His omni-tool then beeped several times before he raised his hand to his earpiece to listen to a message. He looked confused for a few moments before his expression returned to "normal."

"The Illusive Man wishes to speak to you." He announced, looking back to the rest of my comrades before looking at his second in command again. "Take him to the QEC while we move the rest of them to the facilities."

"Yes sir." His lackey obeyed as he and another commando pushed me towards the boarding craft.

I let myself release a small sigh of relief as a walked, knowing I had saved those men's lives.

…

Cerberus Space Station "Barn", March 22nd, 3:31 PM, 2184

…

"_Move it!_" The trooper behind me shouted, giving me another hard push forward as I walked down another bright hallway.

This place was big, much bigger than I had initially anticipated it being. It was all very wide open and airy from the looks of most of it, and the lights were way too bright. It hurt just to look around. Not only was this place big, but it was heavily guarded. There seemed to be guards just about everywhere I looked, and that wasn't even counting the LOKI mechs and automated celling turrets. I was so disoriented by these fucking plastic cuffs forcing my hands behind my back that I could barely walk in a straight line, let alone ponder escaping.

Apparently, I was being sent to talk to some character known as "The Illusive Man". I had heard his name several times over the years, which led me believe he was some kind of head honcho.

The troopers then led me into a darker room with nothing inside of it but a circle in the center of the room. One of the troopers cut my plastic cuffs with a knife, freeing my hands.

"_Step onto the scanner._" The trooper who had cut by bonds ordered before I had even rubbed the sore part of my wrists. I silently obeyed his command, stepping onto it as a holographic field formed around me.

I was then greeted by the sight of a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties sitting in a chair in front of what appeared to be a dying star. His face was half shrouded in darkness, while the other half was engulfed in the glow of the star. His eyes were the first feature that immediately caught my eye. They looked to be cybernetic replacements of some kind, similar to the one Richard has, and glowed a brilliant blue. He appeared to be wearing a casual outfit of some kind, likely tailored.

He took a moment to light a cigarette before looking directly at me, acting as if all of this was just a casual event.

"Doctor Michaels… nice to finally meet you." He greeted, taking a puff of his cigarette before continuing. "I've heard a lot about you and your colleagues. You've been making a name for yourself in the world."

"I assume you are The Illusive Man?" I said, only just now realizing how _dumb _that name sounded coming out of my mouth. "The almighty leader around here?"

"That's an odd way to put it, but yes, you would be correct." He confirmed, standing up from his chair and walking towards me. "That's not what's important right now, however. This is about you. I don't think you realize it doctor, but you and your colleagues are more valuable than a fleet of starships and all the resources in the galaxy."

"If you're trying to butter me up, it isn't going to work. I know what Cerberus is, and I've seen firsthand what your organization is capable of." I shot back, attempting to deflect any kind of statement he was trying to start. "Death, destruction, and the slaughter of innocent people."

He took another drag from his cigarette, letting my statement hang there for a few moments.

"Aldrin Station was a… unfortunate setback. I had no intention of disturbing anyone's work on Aldrin, but Agent Embry decided to take it upon herself to purge the entire station due to one security leak." He remarked, walking off slightly to the side as he spoke. "If it's any comfort, I apologize for what happened to your staff."

"Save your sympathy for someone who wants it. We've had years to grieve." I replied, my tone as cold as I could get it as he walked back towards his seat. "Aldrin Station wasn't the only time, either. Attacking defenseless people in the Migrant Fleet and trying to destroy the _Idenna_."

"As I stated before, this meeting is about you. Specifically you." He redirected, pointing towards me with the burning cigarette between his fingers. "Believe it or not, I've read you and Dr. Nemo's dissertation on theoretical particle physics, and I must admit… I was impressed. Not only experts in the field of physics, but engineering, chemistry, and other fields. You two were modern renaissance men."

"Cut to the chase. What do you want from us?" I asked, crossing my arms as I mentally braced myself for whatever he was going to say.

He took a quick sip from his glass before tapping in a few commands on a small holographic screen, bringing up a large 3D hologram of something I never expected to see again.

The Spatial Distortion Device.

"I assume you remember this?" He asked, maintaining his cool tone as I barely managed to keep my mental cool. "This single device is capable of breaking the barriers of known science and throwing conventional physics out the window. Whoever controls it has access to the entire universe, both past and present."

"How did you find out about the SDD?" I stammered out, unable to keep my voice from shaking.

"We have our ways, but then again, did you really believe that interest in the device would simply disappear over the years?" He deflected, taking a final drag from his cigarette before pushing it into his ashtray. "I want you and the other doctors to rebuild this device. Make it better than it was before its untimely destruction."

"You have no idea what you are meddling with." I argued, putting my foot down as I leaned forward and felt rage building up inside me. "This thing is more dangerous than any weapon, and you can't control it. We tried it once before, and it didn't work."

"On the contrary, I know it worked. You and Dr. Nemo wouldn't be here otherwise." He rebuffed, freezing me up as he crossed one of his legs. "Don't try to wax philosophical with me, doctor. You will build this device."

"What makes you think we'll cooperate with you?" I asked as he took another sip of his drink.

"I think it would be in you and your team's best interest." He shot back with a small grin on his face. "From this point on, you'll be taking your orders from the Director. He runs this facility, and is one of my most valued agents."

He then lit another cigarette before going on.

"I can speak for him when I say he doesn't take kindly to those who don't follow his orders. I'd suggest you follow his commands very carefully." He finished off, his smirk crossing his face again. "Goodbye, doctor."

With that, he cut the transmission as his office space faded away around me. I was left one again with a darkened room.

"Welcome to the Barn, Dr. Michaels." I heard a new voice announce from behind me.

I flipped around to see a man dressed in a simple, perfectly fitted lab coat. He appeared to be of African-American descent, and immediate gave me an off-putting vibe. I couldn't really give it a name, but it reminded me of Gus Fring from Breaking Bad. Just from the way he stood there, it gave off an air of calculating superiority that chilled me to the bone.

"I'm sure you'll come to enjoy working with Cerberus." He said with a simple smile, motioning for me to come his way. "Follow me, I'll show you where you'll be working."

I silently obeyed, walking past the two troopers as I followed him away from the room.

He led me past a few occupied labs where people wearing clean suits were working on various things. From what I could tell at a glance, it mostly seemed to be medical or biological in nature.

"So, what do you people do here?" I asked in an attempt to gauge this man. I wanted, no, _needed_ more information about this place.

"What happens on the rest of the station is none of your concern." He immediately shut down without even looking at me. "All you need to be concerned with is your work."

Once we had passed them, he led me past a security checkpoint into another region of the station, dubbed X3. After another short walk down a hallway we entered a massive empty room with what appeared to be a skeleton of the Spatial Distortion Device in the center.

"This is where you will begin working tomorrow. We will monitor your progress on the device and provide you with resources as you need them." He said as I walked towards the shell. "What do you think?"

I ran my hand along it, actually feeling a shiver run up my spine as I did so.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit how badly I actually did want to work on this again now that the means were available to me. It was hard to let go of it, considering it was not only Dan and I's specialization, but we had previously spent three years working on it back in the 2020s. Maybe if…

"_No._" I thought to myself, closing my eyes as I pressed my hand into the metal. I wasn't going to let myself become absorbed in this again, especially under the eyes of an organization such as Cerberus. This could be used for terrible things, and I wouldn't let them have it. I refused to let myself end up like Colonel Nicholson from A Bridge over the River Kwai. That would be the greatest disservice I could possibly commit.

I looked back at the Director, and the two troopers who were staring directly at me. I sucked up my pride and walked back towards them, knowing that I'd have to get used to this until we could either find a way to escape or send out a distress call.

"Maybe we can work together after all." I remarked in an attempt to build up a false sense of trust. "If you can give me a copy of the original designs, my team and I can begin work immediately."

"Tomorrow, doctor." He rebuffed with a cautious look in his eyes. "Come now, I'll show you where you and the rest of your team will be staying."

I nodded in acknowledgment, pursing my lips before I followed him once more.

After exiting the X3 wing, the Director broke off and left me with the two troopers. They escorted me down a few levels to some kind of residential section. If it weren't for the fact that this entire place was being run by a terrorist organization, I'd have to admit it looked like a nice place to stay. The area lacked the cold metal feel of the rest of the station, and instead looked a lot darker and comfortable.

In an odd, disturbing way, it kind of reminded me of Aldrin Station.

"These are your quarters." The trooper said, stopping at one of the doors. He then slid and access card through the scanner, opening it to reveal a strangely lavish room. It appeared to have every single thing I would need to live comfortably, including a bathroom, small kitchen, and a full bedroom.

The door closed behind me and locked, leaving me alone for the first time since being here. I realized that wasn't a fact however as I looked up to see a small camera mounted on the ceiling. It tracked me wherever I went in the room, keeping a constant eye on me.

I threw myself onto the bed, letting out a deep breath as exhaustion took over. I fell into a restless sleep.

…

I looked around, seeing I was inside a dark room, and that I was under the only light source to be seen. The floor was concrete, old and grimy much like you'd see on the Hoover Dam. I walked forward to the very edge of the darkness, only for the lights in front of me to turn on, revealing the old SDD. It appeared old and rusted, as if it had been left out in the rain for decades. I walked to the lone computer in front of the device, seeing nothing but the word "PROGRESS" carved into the screen's glass monitor.

I then looked up at the SDD as it began to run once again, the stabilizer emerging from the bottom of the machine and spinning up as a wormhole began to form. The sirens from the emergency system began to blare as the wormhole began growing out of control, consuming the device as it got bigger and bigger. I began to run away from it back into the darkness as the air became increasingly cold. I could feel the hairs all over my body stand up as darkness surrounded me.

No matter how far I ran, I couldn't get away from the wormhole. I eventually gave in to exhaustion, getting sucked into the wormhole before ending up in vacuum. I flipped myself around to see Reach, but its surface was dotted with massive fires as settlements all over the planet burned. The echo of the choir from Ghosts of Reach began to play around me as I watched Reapers descend on the planet, effortlessly destroying the defending ships and orbital installations as thousands of quarians died to the slaughter.

I heard the deafening blare of one of the Reapers as I turned around to see one barreling towards me. I screamed, knowing there was nothing I could do as I closed my eyes and prepared to die.

…

Cerberus Space Station "Barn", March 23rd, 7:30 AM, 2184

…

I woke up to the sound of a sharp ringing sound, jolting me out of my sleep. I slowly leaned forward, rubbing my forehead as I quickly tried to put together what my fucked up subconscious had made me experience. Failing that, I looked over to my side to see a neatly folded set of clothes sitting on my bed. I silently cursed, realizing that someone I didn't know had been around me while I was asleep. The thought alone made my skin crawl.

The alarm was coming from the computer already on the desk. I looked at it in my drowsy state, seeing that the alert was for the beginning of the work day, along with a station-wide announcement from the Director.

"I'd like to congratulate the X1 division for the breakthrough they made yesterday, and our security staff for how quickly they took care of the MSV Specter situation yesterday. Everything you do here in Cerberus furthers humanity more and more each day." The announcement read, further filling me with small amounts of anger.

After splashing my face with some water to further wake myself up, I walked back over and inspected the clothes. It appeared to be a simple Cerberus-branded science uniform with an ID tag already built into it. I checked the tag inside the collar, seeing it was my exact size. Next to this was an active datapad with a short message on it.

"This uniform is mandatory for all Cerberus science personnel, and already contains a built-in access card for the X3 labs." I read as I examined the ID more carefully. "Your team members and quarian associates have already been informed that they'll be working in the labs, but it's your job to get them up to speed and ensure their cooperation. Don't disappoint me, doctor. –Director"

I shook my head and allowed myself to let out a deep sigh. I took the uniform into the bathroom where I had some privacy, slipping it on with a surprising amount of ease. I wasn't used to wearing these types of uniforms, they always seemed to be too tight and lacked warmth. This one fit very well.

Once I had finished putting on the outfit, I walked over and opened the door to be greeted by two fully armed Cerberus guards. They lacked the heavy armor that the commandos yesterday wore, but they could easily mess me up if they tried.

"Follow me, doctor." One of them ordered, nodding towards the hallway as I silently obeyed.

I had made a focused effort to begin memorizing the layout of the station as I walked, taking note of guard placements, turret locations, and other factors, such as light levels. Anything that could possibly prove useful in the future. Six minutes later we were back in the X3 lab. The Director was here waiting for me.

"Good morning, doctor." He greeted with an air of hidden, smug superiority. He had the same calculating look practically tattooed on his face.

I ignored his greeting, instead walking down the entrance ramp and looking directly at the skeletal outline of the Spatial Distortion Device before me.

"Doctor?" He asked as I continued to stare at the device.

Looking once more at the device, I pondered my options, which numbered in the single digits. I could either build this device for Cerberus, giving them the means to cause untold damage to space and time, refuse to cooperate and be put in a situation where I can no longer have any possible free movement, or get myself killed while trying to escape. None of these seemed like appealing options, but I had to choose one now and stick with it.

"I have to apologize for yesterday, things were moving fast and I wasn't thinking quite clearly." I feigned with as much sincerity as I could.

"I'm sure we'll be able to work out a productive relationship doctor." He began before letting a frown cross his face. "I'm more worried about your colleagues. Will you be able to ensure their cooperation?"

"Don't worry about them, I'll make sure they do what they're told." I replied rather coldly as I crossed my arms and looked back to the skeleton. "What I need in the meantime is access to copies of our old research papers related to the SDD, an uninterrupted flow of high grade titanium, and as much coffee as possible. You do this, and I'll make sure you have the SDD by the end of April."

The Director looked hard at me for a few moments, likely trying to ascertain any hidden motives or ideas I could be plotting. Failing to find any in plain sight, he allowed his expression to soften slightly before speaking.

"Very well then, doctor." He agreed as we shook hands. "As long as you and your colleagues cooperate, I can guarantee you will have all of that and more."

I nodded in stern agreement, knowing the easy part of this complicated process was over. Now it was time for the hard part. Convincing everyone to play along.

…

Cerberus Space Station "Barn", March 23rd, 8:49 AM, 2184

…

It took a while for these Cerberus crones to get everyone here, but finally there were all here. I was happy to see that no one had been hurt in the time since our abduction, but it was readily apparent that no one was currently pleased about our situation. There was no better example of this than Dan, who had already been able to tell what was behind me. He looked as if he was barely containing his fury.

He was certainly going to be the biggest rouge factor in this little improvised speech of ours. I needed his cooperation in this not only to help in the project at large, but also because I didn't want to leave him with any lingering animosity. I didn't want these Cerberus bastards to ruin our friendship.

I took in a deep breath, looking hard at everyone before starting.

"Well… uh… I'm glad to see you all here today." I began, only just now realizing how badly this could go. "There's no real easy way to explain this, so I'll just put it all out now. Cerberus is assigning us to this portion of the facility to work on what is known as the Spatial Distortion Device. Me and Dan have a sordid history with this thing, but I think if we all work together, we can build it and make it work."

"Alright, time out for a minute." Sira interjected, walking towards the platform I was standing on. "First off, what the hell kind of device is this? Second, do you really expect us to work with these bastards?"

"In layman's terms, the Spatial Distortion Device is capable of making traversable wormholes to any point of the universe. Utilizing strong magnetic fields and specially designed micro particle accelerators, we utilized a rewritten iteration of the Schwarzschild metric in order to transmit matter across space in an instant."

"You say this as if you've done it before." Jack discerned, making is way forward. "Is this what you and Dan have been so hesitant to talk about all these years?"

I stared long and hard at my friends, knowing that this would be the first time every telling them about Area 51.

"Look, the truth is… Dan and I used to work in a United States Air Force facility known as Area 51. We were hired to finish the work on this device, and actually succeeded." I explained, beginning to pace back and forth. "Unfortunately, the device was struck by a massive power surge that originated somewhere else on the base, and the device was subsequently destroyed."

"Wait, United States Air Force?" Dimitri questioned, looking understandably confused. "United States Air Force hasn't existed since 2096. How could you have worked for them?"

"Sean and I weren't born in the 2150s, we were born in the 1990s." Dan answered for me, chiming in while avoiding my gaze. "The accident occurred in the 2020s, and through sheer freak luck we ended up here in 2180."

"Hold on, are you two serious?" Sira interjected, wrinkling her brow. "You two traveled through time? How is that even remotely possible?"

"We have no idea how it happened, it just did." I finished, shaking old thoughts from my head. "So, what do you guys think?"

All of them looked conflicted, which boded well for my in a really scummy sense.

"I refuse to work for any of these Cerberus bosh'tets!" One of the marines shouted at me, sounding understandably heated. He was shouted down by the sergeant, who gestured to be quiet.

Seeing him give out that gesture gave me an incredible idea.

"Guys, pay attention to me for a few moments." I asked, waiting for them to face be before beginning.

"If we just do what they want, we'll be treated well and we can still contribute to humanity." I buttered up, knowing that the Cerberus bastards were listening to every word I was saying. "Maybe we've been looking at them the wrong way, and I don't think there's any harm to giving them a chance."

While saying this bullshit, I used a mixture of human and quarian sign language to vaguely convey what I really wanted to say. Roughly, I said "Cooperate, build trust, build escape plan. Trust me."

I was fortunate that everyone caught on to what I was doing. Slowly but surely, they recognized my hand signals and facial tics.

"Well… when you put it that way, maybe we can create beneficial relationship." Dimitri agreed as he and the others smiled.

The groundwork was set. We would play The Director's little game for the time being.

…

**A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. It's been stressful this last month and a half with job troubles, financial difficulties, and my grandfather being hospitalized. All of this, coupled with a bad writer's block and little free time have not been making story progress easy. I'm very sorry.**

**The gang is in a difficult position now, having been fully ensnared by Cerberus and the Barn's leader, The Director. I know most people shun Mass Effect: Infiltrator, but I always thought the Barn was an interesting location that didn't get the attention it deserved. Things will change, don't worry.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	27. Cataclysm

…

"Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost."

(Pandora)

…

The Barn, April 28th, 1:57 PM, 2184

…

"Alright, move it back towards me!" I shouted, motioning with my hands back towards the SDD. "Closer… closer… good!"

The large top ring of the SDD's main emitter system was now firmly in place, where it would focus in the center of the device along with the bottom ring. The size of these rings had been reduced dramatically since the magnetic accelerators now utilized mass effect fields to propel our subatomic particles. The accelerators no longer needed long lengths of magnetic coils to get them up to speed, and it could be done with a fraction of the space as well.

"Alright, we're done with this section for now, Ioe. Feel free to take a break for a few minutes, then meet me back at the workstation." I ordered, looking up at him in the operating cabin as he acknowledged me with a curt nod.

Ioe'Evas was one of the seven marines we inadvertently dragged here with us. He was a private in the Migrant Fleet marines, good kid. Was smart, talented with computers and information systems. He helped with a lot of the technical hurdles regarding the computer simulations.

He and the other six men had been doing their best to help with all the muscle work. It was apparent that Cerberus was not treating them well at all. They were fed very little, berated constantly, and one of them had been beaten after a bad argument a few days ago. Apparently, they're kept in the station's prison block, along with several other species that Cerberus has captured. Why Cerberus was kidnapping other species and keeping them here, I could only imagine.

I made my way back over to said workstation, where Dan and Sira were working on a few flow charts. Dan was doing most of the explaining at this point, since this really wasn't Sira's specialty. She did fine with mass effect fields, especially with how to shape them, but it didn't help too much with theoretical particle physics.

Dan and I used to live and breathe particle physics. This was our mojo.

"Hey, we just got the top ring attached." I informed them both as I walked towards the coffee machine and poured a cup of coffee for myself.

"Good." Dan replied in the monotone that he had adopted while here.

"So the particle accelerators just need to be aligned?" Sira inquired, looking harder at me as I took a gulp of the hot coffee.

"Pretty much." I answered before taking another big swig from my coffee cup. "Where's Jack? I haven't seen him that much today."

"He's one the other side of the l-lab inspecting the newly arrived par…parts with Dimitri." Dan informed, rolling up his last flow chart and chucking it into the pile that had accumulated in the corner of his station.

"Thanks, I'll be back later." I finished, walking back off with the hot mug of Joe firmly held in my right hand.

This iteration of the SDD was much smaller than our original one. While the original took up about as much room as a baseball field, this one was more akin to a gymnasium. We were able to ditch the old gravity centrifuge, replacing that whole system with a mass effect field generator Sira had designed. This meant that we'd have an even more stable wormhole, along with the added benefit of ease of movement.

Our parts were transported here through a large door located in the back of the lab, behind the SDD. I did have to admit, the Director kept his word. Everything we've asked for, we're received without delay. It was actually rather impressive, given our circumstances.

I eventually found Dimitri and Jack all the way in the back, inspecting a box of crystal lenses for imperfections. These lenses were going to be used on the primary emitters, one of the last components we needed to finish before the SDD was fully operational.

"So, how are the lenses looking?" I asked, taking a slightly smaller sip from my mug as they continued to focus on the critical parts.

"They look good… except for one." Dimitri answered, holding out the lens in question, which had a small gash on the edge. "It appears it has been damaged during transport."

"Well, we'll have to get another one. We can't fire up the emitters without flawless lenses, it'll screw up the energy field." I evaluated, shaking my head. "How come it's always the most important components they fuck up in transport? I'll never understand it."

"That puts us at least another day behind schedule." Jack reminded, looking rather annoyed. "This is unacceptable. We can't afford delays this close to the deadline."

"I'll talk to the Director. I won't let us be held responsible for this." I finished, looking harder at Jack. "Here, you look like you need a little pick-me-up."

"Heh, if there's one thing I can say about Cerberus, it's that they don't screw around when it comes to coffee." He smiled, taking the mug from me and taking a sip.

"Right then, I'll leave you two to it." I said, ending the conversation as I walked off.

I let a small smile cross my face before going back to work.

…

The Barn, April 28th, 8:19 PM, 2184

…

After explaining the lens situation to the Director, I was escorted back to my quarters. It was the same deal as always, I was always escorted back by two guards in full combat gear. By this point I was pretty sure them escorting me was considered more of an annoyance than anything else, though they still refused to engage in small talk. Their loss, really.

To put it bluntly, my quarters were a fucking mess. I left it like this intentionally to make it harder to focus on specific things, and to keep track of when someone's been in my quarters. I've gone through the effort of memorizing where every scrap of trash and junk was, that way if they came though I'd know if there were people snooping around.

I was actually quite fortunate, no one has tried investigating my room for the last two weeks. I was beginning to suspect that the Director was actually starting to take a liking to me. I wish I could say the same for him.

I went into my bathroom, taking off the stupid science uniform and hopping in the shower. I let the hot water roll over me, taking a deep sigh before pulling a small plastic capsule out of my mouth.

We had slowly developed a secret message exchange system these last few weeks. They involved using small plastic containers with red tape inside of them to talk about the latest intel we've been able to pick up. We exchange them through our coffee cups, and for the quarians we hide them inside the water canisters they drank from. Sure, it was unsanitary, but it worked marvelously in the end.

We were almost ready to make an honest attempt at escaping this hellhole. The security here was top notch, there was no denying that, but there were some obvious issues we were able to pick up on here and there.

For one thing, we were slowly able to pick up on the fact that the station was monitored by a pseudo-AI known as UDI. While it was capable of handling as many processes as, say, Powell and Lydia, its actual subroutines were very basic and rudimentary due to being created entirely by code. This left it very vulnerable to subterfuge.

Second, there is a noticeable shift in patrol movements between 10:15 and 10:45 PM. I realized after a while that they actually rotate the guards between these times, though the tightness of this window is a wild variable. This means there is a potential 15 to 30 minute gap where there is no one guarding the doors in front of our quarters.

The third, and final major detail was the most important one. Recently, one of our quarian friends discovered that the station recently received a dozen new Kodiak shuttles to replace the older ones. These shuttles are not only FTL capable, but they also came pre-equipped with Cerberus IFFs. They'd allow us to escape without getting instantly shot down.

The biggest problem with any escape plan involved the SDD. No matter what we did, we needed to make sure that it's thoroughly destroyed. We couldn't leave them with anything, not even a scrap of paper could remain from our project work. We decided that the easiest thing to do would be to overload the SDD's beryllium core, replicate what happened to the old one.

Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work.

I opened the capsule, unraveling the red tape to see the latest message.

"_We've got a wedge into the system thanks to another talented prisoner in section four. We're ready to go whenever you're ready._" The message read as I focused hard on the small print. I then rolled up the message and swallowed it, knowing that it was the safest way to dispose of it.

As I finished the rest of my shower, I pondered whether or not tomorrow would be the day we attempt to do this. This was an extremely risky prospect, trying to escape like this, but if we did it right we'd be home free.

I finally came to the answer, nodding to give myself a little hype.

We make our move tomorrow.

…

The Barn, April 29th, 9:10 PM, 2184

…

All things considered, I felt significantly more alive and full of energy. We did what was expected of us the entire day, mostly troubleshooting while we waited for the new lens to arrive. By most standards, the SDD was ready to go, but without the proper equations and the final lens the device was still useless. Dan and I still didn't know what exact equations would be needed for this, nor did we want to. The less we could give them, the better.

Once everyone had gotten the final message, we called it a day and were sent back to our quarters. It was there we waited patiently for our window to open. Once we did this, there would be no going back.

I stared long and hard at the camera above me, waiting for the record light to shut off. I refused to even blink, knowing that AI was watching me.

The red light blinked off as the aperture closed over the lens.

I immediately jumped out of my bed, grabbing a steel bar from behind my fridge and a small bag of supplies I had accumulated. I ran over to the now unlocked door, taking in a deep breath before opening it. It slid open, revealing that the guard was indeed not here.

I ran down the hallway, making sure there was no one else in sight before moving forward. I had thoroughly memorized the path through here, knowing Dan should have been around here somewhere. Sure enough, I ran into him a few seconds later, wearing the clothes he had worn before our capture just like me.

"Run into any problems?" I asked quickly, keeping my eyes on the hallways in case any guards walked through.

"Nope." He replied, looking quickly at his sharpened piece of metal before smiling. "You ready to do this?"

"I couldn't be more ready even if I tried." I said, cracking my neck with a satisfying pop. "Let's blow the SDD and go home."

We then ran to the main reception for this level, where there was only one guard and receptionist. We were fortunate that the reception desk faced the elevator, away from us. The guards were always armed with a standard stun baton and an M-358 Talon pistol, some specially designed Cerberus hand cannon.

"I don't understand, this has never happened before." I heard the receptionist say as we slowly inched closer. "Since when have we been unable to connect to the mainframe like this?"

"I don't know, maybe it's just a glitch." The night guard theorized, scratching his head as we got closer and closer.

Once we were within melee distance, we both sprang into action. Dan quickly pulled the guard back, stabbing him in the neck with his makeshift knife while I whacked his buddy upside the head with my steel bar. The guard was dead within seconds, and the receptionist wasn't moving at all.

We dragged the bodies into the back room and disposed of them into a few lockers. We exchanged our crude weapons, Dan taking the Talon pistol while I took the stun baton. We then moved into the stairway, electing to avoid the elevator for obvious reasons.

"You sure you can replicate what happened before?" I asked as we ascended the vacant stairway.

"It should be as simple as removing the argon co-connections and setting the system into maximum power mode." He explained as we made it to the main level. "I hope they aren't having any issues with that AI…"

We stacked up on the exit, waiting for the marines to initiate the next step of our escape. It didn't take long for the red emergency lights to activate and for the alarms to sound.

"_Warning: Section Four holding cells now open._" UDI announced over the station-wide intercom system as a rumble could be felt from an explosion. "_Security teams, report immediately._"

We waited a few more second before bursting into the next level, where there was no security at all. The diversion had worked. I hoped that they'd all be able to get out of there, it was likely chaos right now.

We ran past the empty security checkpoint, flashing our IDs to open the doors to the X3 lab. Inside, all the lights slowly flickered on as we ran down the ramp to the SDD itself.

"Alright, put this on." Dan ordered, handing me an emergency respirator. "We don't have time to manually disconnect the argon tanks, so I'm just going to blast them open."

"Alright, I'll begin the startup sequence for the beryllium core." I agreed, running back up to the main console and booting it up. It was relatively easy to override the safeties, which there were about a dozen of.

Dan ran to the back of the SDD and began shooting holes into the compressed canisters of argon. Without the argon cooling system, the beryllium core would have nothing to cool it anymore. We were now in a very risky situation, even riskier than before. Not only could the argon suffocate us if our masks slip or fall off, but if we activate the sequence too quickly, there'll be nothing left of us when the device blows.

I couldn't help but feel a little sad about destroying the Spatial Distortion Device again, but it had to be done. There would be no end to all the destruction Cerberus could cause with this, and I wouldn't have any of it. This was for the best.

"OK… you ready?" He asked, looking hard at me as I paused for a moment.

"I'm ready to go on my end!" I shouted as Dan blew open the last argon canister with his Talon.

The moment I pressed the activation button, we began running like bats out of hell to the exit. I knew that the explosion would be large, and neither one of us wanted to risk being anywhere close to it when it blew.

"Seal the door!" I shouted through my mask, as we quickly closed the heavy blast doors behind us.

We got as far as the security checkpoint before the device went critical, throwing us off of our feet as a massive shockwave rocked the entire station. I could see panels get lodged off of walls, windows crack, and pipes burst as the vibrations moved through everything. It felt like my teeth had been knocked around in my own skull.

"Ugh… son of a bitch!" I yelled, instantly having a headache.

"Come on, security will be here soon." Dan urged, helping me back to my feet.

"I hope they've gotten to those shuttles. We're running out of time, and fast." I replied, trying to banish the pained aches from my mind.

We moved quickly through the hallways, deciding to cut through the administration area. Due to it being off hours, there were very few people here. Those who were here had already been evacuated, much to our luck. There were three guards here trying to back up all the consoles, and we needed to get past them.

"What the hell is going on? Are we being attacked?" One of the guards asked, walking over to his buddy while the other focused on the consoles.

"Not sure. There's apparently a riot going on in section four." The other one answered, shaking his head. "I haven't been able to reach anyone on the comms, everything's engaged."

While they spoke, I moved towards the lone guard while Dan moved in closer to the two speaking. As soon as I was close enough, I burst out of cover, jamming my stun baton into the guard's stomach, causing him to vomit before I flipped around and smacked him in the face. Before the other two could react, Dan quickly plugged both of them with the surprisingly powerful pistol.

"Here." Dan said, throwing me a rifle that one of them had been holding. It appeared to be a derivative of the M-96 Mattock. "It shouldn't be too much farther to the shuttle bay."

We eventually made it through the maze-like administration section, almost being caught off guard by a ceiling turret until we destroyed it. The two of us had almost reached the shuttle bay when several more intense explosions could be felt vibrating through the station.

"What's going on now?" I asked out loud as a different siren began to blare.

"_Warning: Reactor integrity compromised. Proceed to evacuation zones._" UDI announced over the sirens, causing us to look at each other wide eyed.

"The SDD explosion must have damaged more than we thought." I theorized, taking in another deep breath. "We need to get out of here."

At this point, Cerberus technicians and researchers were running around in a panic outside of administration, making it harder to move through the area. It made a great distraction though, helping us remain unnoticed by security.

We finally made it to the shuttle bay, where we looked down to see gunfire being exchanged between our group and a few up armored Cerberus commandos that had made it here. They were trying to stop us and the rest of the escaped prisoners from leaving. It wasn't until now that I realized just how many people Cerberus had actually imprisoned. It was mostly asari and krogan from the looks of it, but race didn't matter here. Everyone was working together to help kill these bastards.

Dan and I decided to use our height and angle advantage, using our respective weapons to thin out their numbers a bit. We ran down the stairway, exchanging more fire until we finally reached Dimitri, Jack, and Sira.

"I'm going to assume explosions are because of you two." Dimitri said quickly, shaking his head. "We've already launched three shuttles filled with prisoners, and they're heading towards rendezvous point."

"We don't have much time, the explosion from X3 damaged the station's reactor." I replied, as the next filled shuttle zoomed out of the bay.

"We're almost ready to head out, we just need a little more time." Sira replied, reluctantly holding a Talon pistol. The poor woman had never even fired a gun before now.

I quickly popped my head out to the side, looking for anything that we could use to thin out their numbers. I did eventually spot a tank of liquid hydrogen suspended from a crane close to where the commandos were streaming in from.

"Everyone aim for that tank!" I yelled out, pointing at is as we all began shooting at the tank. It didn't take much at all to make that thing go up in a massive fireball. The fireball washed over the commandos, setting them ablaze and filling the shuttle bay with the sounds of panicked screams as they burned alive. The heat could be felt all the way over here.

"Go go go!" One of the prisoners yelled as the fifth shuttle's doors sealed shut, leaving just us five, one of the marines, and a volus.

We all ran into the last open shuttle, rounds whizzing past our heads as we ran. All of us had nearly made it in when two shots struck Jack in his back, knocking him straight to the deck outside of the shuttle.

"Jack!" I yelled out loud, jumping out into the open before another shot ricocheted off of the doorway, forcing me back inside.

"Shit… covering fire!" Dan yelled, he and the others popping out and spaying down the shooter's location as me and Ioe picked Jack up and carried him inside. The doors shut just seconds later, as the engines fired and we shot out of the Barn. Dimitri began prying open compartment looking for medical supplies, but was unable to find one.

"Where is it? Why is there no medical kit?!" Dimitri demanded in his imposing voice as the rest of us knelt down next to Jack.

He wasn't in good shape. The two shots that hit him both went directly though him, piercing his stomach and one of his lungs. He was bleeding profusely, and without a med kit, there was no medi-gel to give him. No way to stanch the bleeding.

"Heh… heh…" Jack laughed slightly, letting a weak smile cross his face. "So… this is how… it's going to go…"

"Jack, stay with us!" I urged, waking a clean rag out of my bug-out bag and using it to put pressure on the wound. "Come on man, you'll be ok!"

It wasn't working, he was bleeding too much.

"I think… we both know… that's not going to happen." Jack shot down, coughing up some blood as he forced air into his good lung. "Listen… these last few years… have given me… some… of the best... moments of my life. I wanted… to thank all… of you… for helping give me those… memories."

"Jack…" Sira said before tears began streaming from her eyes.

"You're the best… family… and old man… could ask… for." Jack finished with a smile as his head went limp.

There wasn't a sound that could be heard in those long moments. I stared down at Jack, disbelief filling my heart. It didn't matter how I felt or how anyone else felt, nothing could change what had just happened.

Jack was gone.

…

MFV _Nerox_, April 30th, 3:44 AM, 2184

…

After modifying the emergency beacons in each of our shuttles to broadcast on a Migrant Fleet frequency, we waited for several hours in an uncharted region of Sigurd's Cradle for rescue. Luckily, we were quickly detected by the MFV _Nerox_, an old Asari cruiser that had been assigned by the Admiralty to keep watch on the system.

Before then, we used the radios in each shuttle to get sit-reps from everyone. In all six shuttles total, there were 68 people. While I was unsure about certain factors such as the krogans and other prisoners we hadn't had direct contact with, they all banded together surprisingly well and worked together to escape the station.

Once on board the _Nerox_, everyone was placed on lockdown with the exception of me. As a captain, I was given an envirosuit to wear until I could be properly decontaminated. I was following a few marines to the bridge, where their captain was waiting to speak to me.

Despite everything, there was this deadness inside of me after what had happened to Jack. It was almost unreal seeing him die like that right in front of me… it was hard to accept. I shook my head as I neared the bridge, knowing I had to keep my mind focused until this current situation was resolved.

The inside of the bridge was actually rather large for a ship this size. The captain was looking over a report on his datapad before he turned around to face me. His suit was all red, even his faceplate.

"Captain Michaels, I'm Captain Leel'Nomis vas Nerox." The captain greeted with a handshake, which I happily accepted. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise, Captain." I returned as warmly as I could, nodding my head.

"I just finished reading the report from the security team. Truth be told, I'm still having a hard time believing it." He said, sounding slightly exasperated. "68 people, over five different species, and in Cerberus marked shuttles. What happened out there?"

I stared at him for a few seconds, thinking back to the last month that Cerberus had forced us to work for them.

"It's difficult to explain." I started, taking a deep breath before going on. "Listen, what happened isn't important right now. What I want is to get these people out of their shuttles. They've all been though a lot, and they need some space."

"Hm… you make a good point." Leel agreed, rubbing the underside of his helmet. "I'll seal off the hanger from the rest of the ship and send down some food and supplies. They'll have to stay in there until we can figure out what to do next."

"Thank you." I finished, turning around and exiting the bridge.

About an hour later, the hanger was filled with dozens of cots as people ate, talked, or tried to sleep. It looked like a disaster relief center, but it was likely the most comfortable they had been since Cerberus had taken them.

I was currently talking to Kaknar Vin, this volus computer specialist that had helped Ioe crack UDI's system and cut it off. He was an interesting individual, apparently he had worked for a private security firm before he found some information sensitive to Cerberus and was abducted. His sense of humor was quite dull, but then again not many volus were considered funny.

"It was lucky you and your friends *wheeze* came along when you did." He remarked, shaking his head slightly. "I believe they were about to dispose of me. *wheeze*"

I shook my head at the thought, when another one crossed my mind.

"Any idea why Cerberus abducted all these people?" I inquired, popping another piece of gum into my mouth. "It seems like they went through an awful lot of trouble to acquire this many people."

"*wheeze* Cerberus was abducting people for experiments." He answered rather bluntly, looking up at me. "They were using innocent people *wheeze* to test pathogens, viruses, and cybernetic implants. Nothing was prohibited."

"Wait, viruses and pathogens? We're not being exposed right now, are we?" I asked, slightly surprised by his admission.

"No, test subjects who had been exposed or experimented with were placed in a *wheeze* different ward to keep the other subjects healthy." He corrected, shaking his head. "Trust me, having the station's reactor go critical is the most merciful way *wheeze* we could have let them go."

"But the reactor going critical wasn't part of our original plan." I remarked, getting a little bit angry with him.

"Well, *wheeze* I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was slightly more concerned with my own well-being at the time." He admitted, turning away from me. "*wheeze* Still, it all worked out in the end."

I simply shook my head in disapproval as I turned to look out the hanger bay door window, staring out at the passing stars.

I wondered if Jack was watching me from somewhere out there, silently cheering us on. There would never be any way to tell for sure if there was an afterlife, but if there was, I hoped that he and my parents would get along well.

Life is a strange thing. Some of us grow up, go to school, work the same job for years until they retired and died. Some go on to become heroes in conflict, get their faces on posters and in recruitment vids. Some just live out in the countryside their entire lives, having no idea what the outside world looks like. I sought to make the lives of everyone around me better through scientific innovation.

My grandfather's inspiring words still held up well to this day. He was right.

"_Remember Sean, Scientific minds thrive off discovery and problem solving._" I remembered him saying to me at my high school graduation party. He had been a science teacher for many years, went to Loyola University MD back in the 60's. His favorite subject was botany, always had plants growing in his backyard.

That old phrase was a mantra to live by, one any true scientist could get behind.

I hope I could continue to bring honor to that old phrase.

…

**A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, I tried to write it as fast as possible without compromising my writing standards. I was originally going to dedicate a whole chapter to the Barn and the team's time spent in it, but I decided to scrap it in exchange for something a little better. Writing a whole chapter where everyone is incredibly depressed didn't sound appealing for either me or my readers.**

**Speaking of readers, I'd like to personally thank everyone whose fav'd and subscribed to my story. We recently broke 250 follows, and I never expected to get this far. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have the urge to work on this story. **

**I'd also like to give special thanks to BJ Hanssen for all the wonderful conversations we've had. Discussing the science behind the scenes has been one of the most fun experiences I've had so far. I recommend you guys go check out his story, Mass Intelligence: Close Call. It's a rather interesting take on Mass Effect's canon, and one of the most entertaining Mass Effect fan fictions I've read in a while. **

**Sean and the others have escaped from Cerberus once again, this time with far more consequences. What will happen with all the refugees that they rescued? What happens when Sean and the others return home to Mara, Richard, Powell and Lydia? Wait to find out.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	28. Memoriam

...

**Sorry for the chapter re-upload. The website decided to freak out on me and remove this chapter. Nothing has changed, so if you already read the chapter you don't need to re-read it.**

…

"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently."

(Bill Watterson)

…

MFV _Neema_, May 1st, 10:09 AM, 2184

…

After a day of waiting, we eventually made the jump back home to the Klenot system. I had been shuttled over from the _Nerox_ to meet with the Admirals aboard the _Neema_. They really wanted to know where we had been for the last month, and why we had brought so many people with us. I had already written up a draft report to hand them, making sure no one involved in the Spatial Distortion Device project would mention it if asked. They didn't need to know about it.

I sat in one of the old conference room chairs, moving back and forth and listening to it creak. It reminded me of the old 50's style office chair my father had in his office back home. It was all metal, sure, but oddly enough the arm rests were made of a worn down wood that I had never seen before. For all I knew, it could have originated from Rannoch.

After several minutes of waiting, Admirals Gerrel, Raan, Zorah, and Koris arrived, though Admiral Zadie was nowhere to be seen. They all paused for a moment to look at me, though I wasn't sure what they were hoping to see. I was wearing a full envirosuit due to not having completed decontamination yet. They then took their seats without a word, an uncomfortable silence filling the room until one of them finally spoke.

"Captain Michaels, we were so relieved when we heard you and your team had returned." Raan began, her hands folded on top of the table.

"Well, I can't exactly agree that we all made it back." I corrected rather somberly, looking down at my boots for a second before looking back to Raan. "But I do appreciate the gesture."

"We're sorry for your loss, Captain." Koris said in a warm voice as I focused exclusively on him. "I assure you, we'll make sure that Dr. Windham's memory is honored. His Gravity Drive technology was instrumental to the survival of our people, and we will never forget what he did for us."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that. Thank you." I finished, suppressing the urge to tear up. "So… have you read my report?"

"We have, and I must say it's miraculous that you not only managed to escape from this space station, but also rescue 68 people of various races on top of that." Gerrel remarked, opening up said report on his omni-tool and looking over it. "Asari, krogan, turian, salarian, batarian, and even a volus. Some might call this the single biggest act of interspecies cooperation ever recorded."

"I think everyone just desperately wanted off of that station." I downplayed, not wanting to get into the big details. "I'm hoping we'll be able to get these people back to their friends and family."

"We're currently trying to get in contact with the Alliance regarding the movement of these individuals." Rael said in an exhausted voice, looking at the report as well. "We're not equipped to handle this many refugees. They need to be decontaminated, fed, and have background checks performed. You aren't making our lives any easier, doctor. Bringing these people here wasn't the wisest course of action."

"Well, excuse me for saving the lives of 68 people!" I burst out, standing up in anger. "What would you have had me do? Leave them on that station to die? Get off your fucking high horse and try giving a shit about someone other than yourself for once!"

"Doctor, you are completely out of-" Rael began to shoot back, before Raan quickly stood up.

"Silence Rael!" She cut off in a tone I had never heard from her before. "Captain Michaels is right! Don't assume just because they aren't quarian that they are of any less value!"

Rael actually shrunk slightly into his chair, something else I had never seen before. This had gotten very serious incredibly fast.

"You… you're right." He admitted with sincerity, taking a deep breath. "I apologize, Captain."

I nodded to him in acknowledgment as both Raan and I sat back down.

"Captain… what would you suggest we do in the meantime while we await a response from the Systems Alliance?" Gerrel inquired, actually surprising me.

"Well, why don't we offer these people work? Jobs here on Reach?" I suggested as the idea came surging into my head. "Some of these people… Cerberus could come looking for them again. If we offer to protect them from Cerberus, we'll have a whole new pool of people that'll work for the Fleet with their own unique sets of skills."

They all took pause to my suggestion, which I had obviously expected. It was quite the radical idea when you thought about it. It took the quarians a lot of time to adjust to just seven of us, but offering over fifty people the same opportunity? It would be quite the move.

Even though I barely knew these people from the Barn, we went through enough with them that I wanted them to be safe. I knew a lot of them died trying to escape from the section four holding cells, and I felt like we at least owed them the option after the hell Cerberus put them through.

Which made their response rather surprising in retrospect.

"We will… consider your suggestion." Raan replied, shocking me with how positive it sounded.

"Thank you, Admirals." I said, nodding my head in a respectful manner.

"Is there anything you wish to ask us, Captain?" Koris inquired, causing my mind to shift back to home, and my wife.

"Yes… are my wife and the others alright?" I asked, putting my folded hands back on the table as I suddenly became nervous.

"I haven't visited them recently, though last time I did they were still very upset." Raan answered as I nodded my head in confirmation.

"When's the earliest me and my team members can return home?" I pushed further, wanting more than anything to see Mara's face again.

"Well, seeing as how you live on the planet's surface, I see no reason why you can't leave immediately." Gerrel replied, making my heart jump with joy. "Though, if any of you wish to board our vessels, you will need to go through a full decontamination first."

"Thank you so much Admirals." I thanked again as the meeting ended.

We could go home.

…

Serenity Valley, May 1st, 5:29 PM, 2184

…

The mood inside the shuttle was very somber. We made it home, but one of us still didn't make it. Jack was a damn good man, and we were determined to give him a proper burial. He was wrapped in sheets, and had also been placed inside a body bag per quarian decon regulations. Just looking at him by this point nearly brought me to tears.

We landed outside of our homestead with a gentle thump, the engines shutting off and leaving us with few more moments of silence. We knew that Mara and Richard were here at this hour, and they had certainly heard us.

Without any plan or idea of what we would say, we simply opened the doors and began a slow walk towards home. Dan had this hollow, deadened look in his eyes, and had barely talked at all. Sira was near constantly on the verge of tears, and had to continuously wipe them away with a handkerchief. Dimitri had volunteered to carry Jack. He looked tired and defeated, the worst I had ever seen him. Seeing everyone like this… I had no idea how the others would react.

About halfway down the pathway, Mara, Richard and Powell all ran out to meet us. Their faces shifted from happy, to confused, and finished at worried in a span of ten whole seconds.

"Oh my god…" Mara exclaimed, covering her mouth as the gears began clicking into place. "What happened?"

I stared at her for a few seconds before I looked down at the ground, trying to think of something to say. I failed. Instead, I began to feel tightness behind my eyes as my emotions took over, and I began to sob. I tried to cover my own face to stop it, but it just wouldn't work.

"It's OK, Sean. It's OK." Mara insisted, walking over and giving me a long hug. I accepted it fully, squeezing her back tightly.

She held her arms around me for what felt like hours, as some of us broke down in tears, or simply stood there at a loss for words.

There was nothing we could say. Nothing to explain what had happened.

…

Serenity Valley, May 1st, 7:43 PM, 2184

…

Two hours after landing, we had finished digging Jack's grave. Six feet deep in a beautiful spot where Jack used to come and look over the valley below. We'd have to make a proper headstone for him at a later point, we simply didn't have the time to build him something appropriate. Powell had been happy to help me and Dimitri dig, helping us accomplish this gruesome task much faster.

All of us were here, except for Dan. None of us knew where he had gone off to, and since neither one of us had gotten a replacement omni-tool yet, I had no way to contact him. Running out of sunlight, we decided to bury Jack without him.

Dimitri gently placed Jack into the bottom of the grave we had dug before climbing back out and standing with the rest of us. With the exception of Dan, everyone was here. Lenlo, Kirva, and Biss had learned of our return shortly after the others, and we now in a similar mood to us.

All of us just stood there for the longest time, looking down at the grave without a word. I still have no idea how long we did just that.

"Is there anything anyone would like to say?" Dimitri asked in a low tone, the lowest I had ever heard from him.

There was silence for a few more moments before Powell spoke up.

"Jack was a fantastic man, the brightest mind of his generation and a shining example of what one person can offer the people of the galaxy." He said out loud though his platform's booming speakers, creating a small echo through the valley. "His loss is nothing short of a tragedy, and the effects of his passing will be felt for many years."

I nodded silently to his kind words, giving Mara a quick, gentle hug.

With that, Dimitri, Powell and I began to shovel the dirt back into the grave while everyone else walked back home. None of us said a word until the grave was filled in, where we all wished each other a good night. An hour later, it was just me left here. The sun had gone down, leaving me shrouded in darkness.

I continued to stare down at the covered grave, my mind still trying to cope with all that had happened. Not knowing what to do, I reluctantly did something I never expected to do again. I slowly performed the sign of the cross, touching my hand from my forehead, chest, left shoulder and right shoulder. I was actually quite surprised by how fluid the gesture was in my muscle memory. I hadn't done it since I moved out of my parent's house, and I had to admit it felt very odd. It was almost relaxing in a way.

Even as an atheist, I couldn't deny my upbringing. I was raised Catholic, and in many ways I always would be Catholic. They had rooted enough of that old world religion in me that I would always doubt my conceptions of the world. I remember disliking my parents for the longest time, thinking they were dumb for believing in "the man in the sky" when they were such smart people.

I laid my old thoughts to rest, not wanting myself to get worked up again. I kneeled down on the ground in front of the grave, placing my hand on the bare dirt and lowering my head.

"I'm going to miss you, Jack." I said, pushing my palm harder into the dirt.

With that, I stood back up, examining the dirt in my hand before letting it fall back into the ground.

While walking back to the homestead, I noticed through one of the windows that the lights in Jack's compartment were on. I decided to investigate, climbing up the tall flight of stairs to find that his door was unlocked.

Inside, I found Dan sitting in the back of his living room, staring blankly at the chessboard on the table in front of him. He didn't flinch, twitch or acknowledge my arrival in any way, he just stared at the handmade pieces in front of him, expressionless.

It was no secret whatsoever that the two of them had been engaging in a very drawn-out game of chess over the last few months. This had been a regular occurrence between them since Aldrin. In the past, Jack had won twice against Dan, who had been determined to beat him. This was their third game.

Without saying a word, I slowly walked over and sat down across from him, focusing on Jack's pieces. I had only played chess a few times, but I knew the rules well enough to know what standing these two had been in. That's when I noticed something, a rare little move.

"Rook to Knight 6." I announced, moving the pieces out of the way with a small smile. "Checkmate."

Dan's face shifted slightly before he let out a small huff of amusement through his nose.

"Even in d-death, that old son of a bitch still beats me." He remarked through a few chuckles. He then began silently tearing up for the first time since his death, much in the same manner he had back on the Citadel. "Goddamn it, why him? Why did it have to be him?"

"I don't know, none of this is fair." I replied, shaking my head as I tucked my legs up to my chest. "The universe just keeps taking away the people that we care about... one by one."

Dan sat there with the tears in his eyes for a few moments before pulling his head back up and looking harder at me.

"I'm not going to let this happen again, Sean." He said with a very sudden, aggressive tone to his voice as he stood up and looked down at me. "I'm telling you now, I'll never rest until these Cerberus bastards have been wiped from the face of the galaxy. Next time we run into them, I'm killing every single one of them, and nothing you do is going to stop me. All of them deserves to die, and they deserve no mercy."

All I did in response to his proclamation was look away from him and nod gently. He then walked off without another word, leaving Jack quarters and leaving me by myself.

I couldn't blame Dan for wanting to kill Cerberus members, to be honest.

I wanted revenge too.

…

CASTLE Base, May 17th, 11:21 AM, 2184

…

"Alright… try it now!" I yelled, backing away from the experimental emitter that Jack and Sira had been working on before our abduction. Sira switched it on, producing a bluish field of energy that slowly dissipated from the visible spectrum.

Since I had begun working with Sira to complete his work here in Hanger 5, I had learned exactly what the two of them had been doing. Jack had invented what he called Modulating Energy Shields, or the MES System for short. It involved using a high-density projection field supported by our old electron emitters to create a completely solid "wall" of energy.

Unlike kinetic barriers, which were the standard of protection around the galaxy and only blocked objects moving at high speeds, these energy shields would stop anything. The energy field acted like a solid wall, and blocks everything from mass accelerator rounds, lasers, and according to Jack's old notes, even our own plasma weaponry.

The other benefit was that it would be significantly stronger than kinetic barriers. As long as the field has a steady supply of power, it could theoretically maintain itself until the power runs out. With kinetic barriers, they can only take so much before the emitters overheat and fail due to stress.

We learned that the hard way over Eden Prime.

Once this prototype was functional, Rael's team would begin fabricating an MES System for Cairo Station. Once it was properly tested there, it would then be added to the Liveships, then it would begin spreading to the rest of the ships in the Migrant Fleet, much like the Reach System had years ago.

"I think it's working this time!" Sira remarked with an uplifted tone to her voice as I rushed back up the platform to look at the current readings. "Thermal is showing a steady field, hovering between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius."

"And the thickness?" I asked, looking down at the device from our platform.

"One centimeter thick." She answered with a smile, walking away from her console and standing next to me. "How do you want to test the strength?"

I simply looked down at the lone marine inside of the hanger, cracking my own smile.

"Hold on one minute." I replied, cupping my hands over my mouth for better amplification. "Marine! Get over here!"

"What's wrong, sir?" He asked, running into the hanger and stopping at the base of the platform.

"Listen, I need you to help us with a little test here." I began to explain, running down the platform and meeting him at the bottom. I then led him over to a good spot where there was no chance he'd hit any of the equipment. "What I need you to do is fire into this energy shield once I order you to do so. I want you to fire until you've overheated."

"Where is it, sir?" He asked, not knowing it had been activated.

I simply walked over to the perimeter of the field and banged on it with the side of my fist, causing the field to flare up slightly before returning to normal. Unlike before, it was now perfectly safe to touch. I could feel the heat that Sira had mentioned, it felt similar to the hood of an old car on a hot summer day.

"Oh, I see." The marine corrected as I smiled. "I'll await your command, Captain."

"I won't be long." I reassured, jogging back up the platform stairs to where Sira was. "Out of curiosity, did that impact have any noticeable effect on field strength?"

"No, it barely registered on the instruments, and had zero effect on shield integrity." She answered before resetting the scanner and beginning the next test recording. "Ready to go."

"Alright marine, fire!" I shouted down to him, gesturing towards the field with my arm as if I was leading a cavalry charge.

He unloaded on the field as ordered, causing the field to flare up as each round made contact. This went on for about eight seconds until his gun seized up.

"Alright… anything?" I asked once more, looking down at the field as it began to shimmer away again.

"There was a minor power draw, only 12 watts, but other than that nothing at all appears to have changed. It would seem we've finally done it." Sira remarked with a smile, before tears filled her eyes. "Jack would have been so happy knowing we had finished his old project."

"Hey, it's alright." I reassured, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Listen, I'll get into contact with the Admirals later about Cairo Station. For now, can you compile the results while I go check on Dan and Dimitri in Hanger 3?"

"Sure thing." She agreed, sucking up her tears and recomposing herself. "See you later."

She then shut off the field, causing a small gust of warm air to radiate out before dissipating into the cool northern air.

Once outside of the hanger, I saw it had begun to snow again. While at first this seemed weird to me as someone who originated from Maryland and was used to hot temperatures this time of the year, I had eventually gotten used to it.

Reach had an odd orbit around the system's star. Unlike Earth, where the seasons only lasted for a few months, here on Reach they lasted for almost a whole Earth year. This was due in most part to the planet's larger size. The other fact to remember was that depending on the location, the seasons tended to be either more or less extreme.

Serenity Valley and Camp Dolor were located further up north in what was now known as Kámen Range, a series of loosely connected valleys and mountains that all formed from glacial activity. It was classified as a subarctic climate, though it had longer warm seasons than most earth-based ones. To put it in layman's terms, we were basically in "Super Canada", as Lydia had so happily stated before, but with more of an "Alps" twist.

I buttoned up my old surplus jacket to keep the warmth in as I walked, walking past a group of crates containing material for Rael's research team in CASTLE Base. It was one of the few things around I wasn't authorized to access, and I had to admit I was curious. I suspected his team was working on Geth countermeasures, weapons and such. I dismissed that kind of research as a waste of time.

Inside Hanger 3, it was readily apparent what Dan and Dimitri had been spending the last few weeks working on.

The "Dragoon" mech, as Dan had decided to call it, was in pretty good form so far. It had reached its full height by this point in the construction process, though it still lacked arms and all the missile pods were empty. It was imposing, standing a full four stories high and barely fitting in the hanger. It had been painted with a dark grey base, then adorned with simple red streaks that lined parts of the legs and cockpit. On the right leg, Dan had gotten the Wolf's Dragoons logo from Battletech painted on.

We were both nerds to the highest degree.

I had helped out a bit on the project while working out the kinks with the MES System. The biggest one involved scaling up the old Plasma Gun designs Mara and I had worked on into a full blown Plasma Cannon. The industrial laser that had originally been mounted in the hull was inefficient for combat purposes and sucked up way too much power. Now with a plasma cannon, it was capable of obliterating just about anything in addition to its other weapons.

Dan and Dimitri were over on the other side of the hanger, helping with the construction of one of the mech's arms. It currently sported two 155mm mass effect cannons, a bit bigger than the one in the original design, but easier to acquire and mount. They were the same kind of cannons normally mounted on the M35 Mako, the Alliance's primary infantry fighting vehicle.

"Hey guys, how's it hanging?" I asked as I approached, nabbing the attention of them and the engineers assisting them. Dimitri called a break before focusing on me.

"Were you the cause of gunfire heard a few minutes ago?" Dimitri asked, jumping down from a platform to ground level.

"Yeah, we were testing the MES System with some basic rifle fire." I explained, scratching the back of my neck. "It finally works. We figured out the emitter problem."

"That's good. I'm sure Jack w-would be proud of us "kids" solving the issue." Dan smiled, putting his tools back in his carpenter jeans. "We've almost finished m-mounting the Mark IV MN in the mech. It should be ready for mo…mobility tests by the end of the w-week."

"Sound good. Have there been any power deficiencies with the Mark IV?" I asked, leaning against the giant mech arm.

"We had to tweak reactor output slightly to keep heat down, but other than that, it has worked very well." Dimitri reported as I nodded my head. I then remembered something I hadn't through about in years.

"Remember our MechWarrior 2 days, Dan?" I replied with a smile, causing Dan to get that shine in his eye.

"The death of the incompetent is the death of a feeble prodigy and a testament to our glorious method." Dan quoted verbatim from MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries.

"Kill the meat, save the metal." I quoted from the same game, clasping hands with Dan as we both squeezed and bumped into each other in a friendly manner. "Death to clanners."

We both looked over at Dimitri, who stood there with a confused look on his face.

"You two worry me sometimes." He reacted, shaking his head as we both let out amused huffs.

My omni-tool began beeping as I received a call. Looking at the ID, I saw it was Mara.

"Hey hun, what's up?" I asked, turning away from Dan and Dimitri as I focused exclusively on her.

"_Listen, I've been going through all this data you've archived down here in Sublevel 12, and I've found something I think you should take a look at._" She said in a rushed tone, pegging my curiosity.

"Alright, meet me in my office. I'll be over it a bit." I finished, closing the call and looking back to Dan and Dimitri. "Sorry guys, I've got to cut the banter short."

"It's alright, we will see you later." Dimitri accepted as I ran across the hanger and back out into the cold.

The snow had picked up very fast since I was last out here, turning into a full blown blizzard. I ran as fast as I could through it to the massive blast door that led to the innards of CASTLE Base. I flashed my ID to the nearest guard in his nice, warm Gen IV power armor and urged them to hurry up.

Once inside, it wasn't far to my office, which was on the same floor as the blast door, and didn't require any extra security measures. I found Mara sitting in one of the chairs in front of my desk. She stood up as soon as she saw me, and a worried look was clearly seen on her face.

Mara had entered the 17th week of her pregnancy, and was now well into her second trimester. She was no longer as lethargic as she had been before, and her bouts of morning sickness had stopped. She hadn't reached the point where she needed to wear maternity clothes yet, but that time was approaching very fast.

"So, what did you find down there?" I asked while hanging up my jacket.

"I really don't know yet, but it is **big**." She answered with emphasis on big, walking over to my computer and uploading her files to it.

Once the files were there, she turned on the projectors in my ceiling, creating the image of some odd looking device. It looked like a giant orb attached to a superstructure of some kind. I was very confused by it.

"I don't get it." I replied truthfully, not able to wrap my head around what I was looking at.

"Look at the size of it." She urged, pointing down at the indicators.

Whatever this thing was, it was 10 kilometers long, a little over six **miles **in length.

"It's massive." I blurted out in utter disbelief. "Whatever this thing is, it's certainly not a paperweight."

"I'm going to keep digging through the data to see what I can find, but I thought I'd just let you know what we have here." She finished, turning off the holograms and leaving my room a little darker.

"You think it's something we should be worried about?" I asked as she walked closer to me.

"I have no idea." She answered, leaning towards me and giving me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll let you know when I find out more."

"Alright, sounds good." I agreed, giving her a quick hug before she left to go back down to Sublevel 12.

My mind tried to come up with ideas as to what I had just looked at. A ship, station, or some kind of device, over 6 miles in length. Whatever it was, I hope it wasn't something that should have stayed hidden.

Last thing I needed was another doomsday weapon of some sort. SMACs were already scary enough.

…

**A/N:****Decided to take things a little slower this time around, focusing more on the impact Jack's death had on the team and making it a point to show that they are really one big family. Remember, a good friend is something you never take for granted. True friends are few and far between, so keep yours close.**

**I'm sure most of you will be able to guess what Mara found down in the archives. If you don't, then I won't spoil it for you. All you need to know is that it's important, and will show up again later in the story. I have big plans for the events of the later games, and I hope everyone will enjoy them.**

**Once again, for anyone curious, I'm basing the Dragoon mech off of the Archer mechs from the MechWarrior games, and my specific visual inspiration came from Shimmering-Sword's Archer redesign on deviantART. Shimmering-Sword is an incredible artist, and his stuff is all incredible.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	29. Whiteout

…

**A/N: Just to let you guys know, I'll be referencing a lot of musical tracks in this chapter. If you want the full experience, I recommend searching for them on YouTube and listening to them when brought up. Have fun!**

…

"I'm uh... I'm gonna dip this potato in some crushed Vicodin... and there's nobody who can stop me."

(Mark Watney)

…

Serenity Valley, May 21st, 6:19 AM, 2184

…

I blinked my eyes several times as I laid in bed, not wanting to crawl out from under the warm blankets. I stared up at the ceiling as I allowed my brain to fully start back up, thinking about what would be happening today.

We would be testing the Dragoon mech for the first time, running it through the valley and testing the weapon systems. All the admirals would be there to watch, even Zadie, who had been sick the last few weeks. Raan had told me she'd been exposed to some form of pneumonia while changing envirosuits, but she was doing better and felt well enough to watch the demonstration.

I rolled over slightly in my bed, looking at Mara while she slept soundly next to me. She had spent the last few days digging through the archives below CASTLE Base trying to find more information of this thing she found. So far, no luck. She suspected that the data we were looking for was either still hidden in the archives themselves or simply not there.

I put it out of my mind for now, slowly pulling my blanket off as to not disturb Mara. I staggered into our main living space, seeing that it was snowing pretty heavily again. From looking at the landing pad near the edge of the homestead, I could see the snow was at least two feet deep. I let out a quick sigh, knowing I'd have to dig out the snowcat.

I powered up the coffee maker, loading some Folgers Classic Roast into the filter and closing the top. One of our suppliers had gotten a great deal on a whole crate of the stuff while visiting Elysium, enough to last us till the end of the year. I felt sorry for Mara, she couldn't drink it while pregnant.

Having to wait for the coffee to brew, I walked over to the window and sat down next to it. I threw on the headphones I had built a few months ago and began listening to Hammock's "We Will Say Goodbye To Everyone". I stared out into the storm, watching each flake of snow drift by calmly in the cold morning. Things like this, pure and simple… they reminded me of home. My childhood. I'd never get those times back, but I can take happiness in the fact that they happened.

I could still remember this massive storm we had back in 2008. We used to live next to Frederick Road, one of the busiest streets you could find in Maryland. Every night I'd toss and turn, trying to put the sounds of traffic and noisy neighbors out of my mind. That February, we received almost three feet of snow, so much that it shut down the entirety of the neighborhood.

The night of the storm, I went for a walk outside while the snow was still coming down, taking in just how quiet it was. Up until that point, I never believed that any place could be so still, so peaceful. It was the closest to true bliss I had ever gotten until we ended up here.

Here in Serenity Valley, every winter season was like that day. Peaceful, still, and quiet. Nothing to hear but the sound of the wind as snow covered everything in sight. The planet had yet to see the horrors of light and noise pollution, and I enjoyed every second of it. Before I knew it, a whole hour had passed.

I took off my headset, walking back over to the coffee pot which was now full. I poured some milk and sugar into my cup, mixing it with the coffee and taking a deep gulp. It was fantastic, and felt especially good on a cold morning like this.

"One of these days I need to get a pack of Pepsi." I reminisced out loud to myself, thinking back to my soda drinking days with bliss. I was a hardcore caffeine addict, plain and simple. I was so hopelessly addicted to the stuff that going off of it for long periods of time gave me intense headaches. That, and I would get incredibly antisocial.

I sat down at our kitchen table, picking up my datapad and checking to see if there were any new updates or message for me. There was only one, and it was addressed by Admiral Raan.

I knew it must have been important.

"_Captain Michaels, we have something important we'd like to discuss with you today after the Dragoon tests._" It read clearly and with no added fluff. "_It involves our arrangement with the Systems Alliance, and we'd like to get your input on an offer they have given us. Good luck with the demonstration. –Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay_"

I put down my datapad, suddenly stuck wondering what the Alliance could have offered them. My guess was they wanted more info about some of our tech, but then again… they've never approached me over any of the dealings they've had with them since they started their little partnership. Hell, they'd barely talked to us at all since the refugee situation was resolved.

I was still angry that they never offered any of them work, but then again I couldn't deny the difficulties involved with integrating them into the society here. Some quarians still didn't consider me to be a real ship captain. Who knows what could have happened to them?

I shook the thoughts out of my head, finishing off my coffee and walking back into the bedroom so I could start getting dressed for the day.

"Ugh… what time is it?" Mara asked in a groggy tone as I opened up the dresser and took my pick of clothes.

"7:23." I answered, throwing on my green snow pants. "It's snowing sheets out there, so I'm going to dig out the snowcat."

"Alright." She acknowledged, leaning up in bed and shielding her eyes from the light. "Be careful."

After throwing on my inner layers, I finished off with my trusty olive drab M-65 field jacket. These simple, multi-pocketed two layer jackets were still popular 200 years later due to their rugged design, cheap cost, and availability. They were especially popular with colonists, and on occasion I've even spotted some quarians wearing customized versions of them over their envirosuits.

Sure, you could buy some heavily engineered, puffy ski jacket made with aerogel and all that crap, but in the end, you'd never beat simplicity.

Outside, the temperature was a chilling 17 degrees Fahrenheit, or -8.3 degrees Celsius. Snow was coming down fairly hard, but it wasn't the heavy, wet kind of snow. It was the dry, almost powdery variation, which made shoveling it out of the way much easier. After five minutes of clearing a path out, I made it to the snowcat.

After a while, we all realized that walking to CASTLE Base while there was several feet of snow on the ground was difficult, so we endeavored to create a good form of transportation that could take us all there. Our "snowcat" was actually an old turian APC. We tore out all the military internals, adding seats that were actually comfortable and replacing the old wheels with wide snow tracks. It worked surprisingly well. The slanted underside of the APC meant for deflecting away explosions worked well for avoiding rocks and other pieces of debris.

I cleared away the snow from the hatch, hopping inside and firing it up. I'd let the heat inside of the APC melt the stuff on top that I couldn't reach while I cleaned the snow out of the tracks.

"_I hope you're bundled up._" Lydia said over the radio, the APC lacking a holographic projector. "_Meteorological projections are telling me this storm isn't letting up anytime soon._"

"This is coming from someone who used to walk around in the snow barefoot." I shot at her, remembering the one time I accidentally got stuck at Dan's house after a blizzard blew through. This happened while we were doing a cooperative legendary playthrough of Halo 3.

"_I was a strange little specimen of a child, wasn't I?_" She replied, pausing before speaking up again. "_Anyways, you're probably curious as to why I'm speaking to you in there of all places._"

"The thought had crossed my mind." I admitted, leaning back in the chair as I mentally prepared myself. "What's going on?"

"_Well, I've been monitoring Fleet communications for the last few weeks, and I've picked up on something… odd._" She began, sounding slightly confused. "_Based on reports I've intercepted, I think the Fleet is preparing to make some sort of military move soon._ _They've geared up a lot of their heavy cruisers and frigates, but for what, I'm not exactly sure._"

"Are these ships part of the Patrol fleet?" I asked, rubbing my thumb and index finger together. "They could be trying to outfit them to better counter any Cerberus threats."

"_I don't know. Just keep an ear to the ground for a while, see if anything happens. Athena out."_ She finished, shutting off the radio and causing me to pause in thought yet again.

My immediate thought was that this could have to do with what Raan wants to talk about, but why would they be arming up for a deal with the Alliance? That didn't make any sense. Not having enough information to work with, I tried to put the questions out of my head. I needed to focus.

Now that it was nice and warm inside of the snowcat, I hopped back outside into the cold and began brushing the snow out of the track wheels. It wouldn't clog up the tracks like wet snow, but it got into everything. Ten minutes later, it was well cleared and ready for our trip.

It didn't take long for everyone to make their way out. Mara was the first to arrive, followed by Sira, Dimitri, and Dan.

"Where are the other two?" I asked as I looked out at our residential units, looking for Richard and Powell.

"They stayed at CASTLE Base for all-nighter." Dimitri answered, strapping into his lowered seat.

"Another one?" I groaned, shaking my head before shifting the gears into drive. "Great, now I've got to force him into writing another report."

I popped my personal music OSD into the speaker system, starting up Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" as I pulled out of the homestead and down the path to CASTLE Base.

"Why do you always play this ancient music?" Sira asked, sounding slightly annoyed as she looked over at me.

"You forget who you're talking to!" I replied, looking back at her with a smile before focusing back on the path.

"T-trust me, you should be… be happy he doesn't listen to the r-really weird stuff anymore." Dan reassured, taking a jab at my music tastes.

"Oh, you wanna play that game again, Dan?" I remarked, quickly switching over to SAINT PEPSI's "tell me".

I knew Dan hated my old vaporwave tracks, but I still loved them.

After about a minute of listening to the track, I looked back into the cabin to look at everyone.

"So, what do you think?" I asked, looking directly at Sira and ignoring the annoyed look on Dan's face.

"I actually like this one." She admitted, nodding her head along with the beat.

"Are you serious?" Dan blurted out in a disbelieving tone, looking harder at Sira.

"I'll give you a copy of this one and a few others later." I finished as we pulled into CASTLE Base.

Industrial snow blowers were being driven around the base's exterior by a few volunteers to keep the snow levels down to a minimum. Lydia was right, the snow wasn't going to let up anytime soon. It had begun to snow hard enough that it actually started to obstruct long range vision.

I parked the snowcat next to Hanger 3, all of us hopping out in single file.

"Alright, begin the preparations for the demonstration while I go check on Richard and Powell." I ordered as I ran towards the heavy blast doors that protected CASTLE Base's interior.

Once inside, I took a few seconds to pause and appreciate how warm it was. In here, you'd never know there was a blizzard going on outside. They really did pull out all the stops when designing this place.

I began walking through the first level of the base until I reached the elevator. I punched in Sublevel 3, the door closing with a solid clunk. Sublevel 3 was where all twenty of the multi-purpose lab spaces were located. I gave one of them to Richard and Powell as a permanent workspace.

The inside of the lab was a mess of papers, computer servers, and other pieces of tech. In all honesty, it was almost no different from the lab back on Aldrin. I could see Richard tucked away in the back of the lab, sleeping on a cot wearing nothing but pants and a tank top while Powell stood next to one of the consoles. He was staring into space, likely meaning he was inside the computer system.

"Hey Powell, you there?" I asked softly, tapping on his platform.

He quickly took control of his platform again, turning away from his workstation to face me.

"Oh, good morning Dr. Michaels." He greeted in a lowered volume as to not wake Richard. "I apologize for failing to inform you of our overnight session. Richard and I kept each other very busy. I will have the usual overnight report ready by 12:30."

I nodded my head, looking over at Richard once again before returning my attention to Powell.

"If I may ask, Powell… what have you and Richard been doing lately that's been keeping you two so busy?" I questioned out of pure curiosity as I eyed over several of the papers on the tops of the stacks. "It must be important."

"Well, Richard and I are currently working on two different things." Powell began as I took a seat on a nearby chair. "Our primary focus currently involves a set of biometric monitor upgrades for quarian envirosuits. We're trying to improve on the older system by introducing state-of-the-art bio scanners for detecting and diagnosing things such as disease, infection, and physical injuries such as bone fractures and gunshot wounds."

"Sound pretty good." I nodded, pursing my lips. "What's that second one?"

"The second one just involved a series of upgrades for my platform." He answered, holding is hand towards his chest for a few moments before letting it go back to his side. "Since CASTLE Base has gone into operation, I've been equipped with improved kinetic barriers, better batteries, and one of the experimental tactical cloaks Dr. Vsevolod and Dr. Nemo reproduced."

"You have one of the cloaks?" I questioned, standing up and looking harder at him.

"Yes." He admitted, activating it for me to see. The field, which looked like small bursts of static electricity while activating, fully enveloped his form, making him almost completely invisible to the naked eye.

"Wow, if it weren't for that light behind you, I'd never be able to tell you were there." I said with a smile, leaning side to side to see his form warp space slightly.

"They were developed for clandestine nighttime operations." He informed as she shut it off, revealing his huge form once again.

"Do me a favor… don't go showing this off to anybody. If the Admirals found out you had a cloaking device, they'd chew me out big time." I warned, raising my voice a little louder.

"Yes sir." He agreed, nodding his head slightly.

I looked back at Richard, who had somehow not waken up. His face was buried in a pillow, yet somehow he could still breathe. I didn't understand it.

"Hey Powell, want to see a little bit of cause and effect?" I asked, picking up a pack of unopened printer paper.

"Sure." He said with another little nod.

"Watch." I ordered as I calmly walked closer to Richard. Once I was right next to him, I took the pack of paper and dropped it straight on the floor, making a sharp, loud *bang* that immediately snapped Richard out of his sleep. He flinched sharply, holding his pillow defensively as he looked for the source of the noise. He locked onto me, with a mixture of confusion, fatigue, and anger written on his face.

"So, was that one or two beats you just skipped there?" I asked in a joking manner, leaning towards him with my hands folded behind my back.

"Ugh… real funny." He remarked in a groggy tone, rubbing the rheum out of his good eye before producing a clean rag from his pocket and going over his prosthetic one.

I realized in the back of my head that this had been the first time I'd seen where his prosthetic arm connected with his body. The synthetic material his arm consisted of went all the way up to his shoulder. The connection was obvious when you saw the scar issue, but the replacement was so slim that you'd never know it wasn't his real arm while he was wearing long sleeved clothes.

"We're about to start the Dragoon test soon, so if you want to watch you'd better get your ass in gear." I said, picking his crumpled shirt from the floor and throwing it at him.

"Alright… I'll be there, just give me a few minutes." He agreed, eyes still barely open as he pulled said shirt back over his head.

I nodded silently to the both of them before leaving, feeling eager to get the test underway.

Back outside, the snow had actually picked up, and unfortunately I could tell from feeling it that it was starting to transition over from dry snow to wet snow. Even though we planned to do the test in harsh weather, I still worried about possible visibility problems.

Once in the hanger, I made note of the fact that it was very much the same temperature in here as outside before making my way over to the mech.

"Sean, over here!" Dan yelled, waving towards the lift next to the mech. I hopped on as Dan and I ascended to the top of the platform that encompassed the back of the mech.

Now was the time we decided who would get to pilot the mech.

"Alright." I said, taking my 1995 quarter out of my pocket and flipping it between my fingers. "Heads or tails?"

"Tails." He answered as I flicked the coin into the air. It glimmered against the hanger lights before I snatched it back and slapped it on my hand.

I removed my hand, showing George Washington in all his curly-haired glory.

"Damn." He exclaimed, letting his shoulders sag as I produced a grin across my face.

"Come on Dan, help me get situated." I urged, gesturing towards the open hatch in the mech's "head".

The inside of the mech's cockpit was very similar to one you'd find in a jet, though it was very simplified. There were two sidesticks, used for controlling both the mech's movement and weapon systems. Both sticks had multiple triggers for controlling the weapons, and when unlocked you could control each arm independently from one another.

For controlling the hands, there was a special program installed that tracks the signals from the pilot gloves and translates them into fluid movements. This could be used for navigation, moving debris, or even throwing a few punches if the need arose.

Much like a tank, the body and legs of the mech would move independently from one another. This had advantages and disadvantages. It made it a lot easier to switch targets on the fly, but it eliminated the possibility of strafing. I'd have to dig up my old MechWarrior instincts to keep myself from running into walls by accident.

The most important part of the tank was the helmet. Dan took the program he wrote for the Cobra HUD and completely reworked it into a near flawless imitation of the classic MechWarrior iteration. When worn, it would show everything you'd need on a battlefield. Status updates on weapons, armor, and other systems, minimap, night vision, thermal imaging, and even head tracking for the arm mounted weaponry.

To top it all off, the cockpit was equipped with an emergency ejection system for use in worse-case scenarios. It utilized explosive bolts to forcibly remove the cockpit hatch and launch the pilot away from battle. If everything went according to plan, I would never have to test it.

"So'd you c-catch all of that?" Dan asked as I jumped into the cockpit to take a better look.

"Yep." I confirmed, adjusting the seat forward slightly.

"Here, take this." He said, flicking an OSD at me as I caught it in the air. "A little bit of music I p-put together."

"Thanks man." I thanked, putting on my helmet before putting the OSD in my pocket.

I could hear the echo of the smaller hanger doors opening below through the open hatch. I looked through the cockpit window to see all five Admirals making their way inside for the demonstration, followed by a running Richard.

"Well, good luck." Dan wished as I gave him a thumbs up, the hatch above me coming down with bang and hiss as the atmosphere sealed.

"_Captain, we see you've already prepped everything._" Gerrel mused over my omni-tool's radio. "_Excited?_"

"More than you can imagine." I replied back with the same smile as before as the main hanger doors began to slide open.

"_You've already memorized the test objectives?_" He asked, likely to make sure I knew what I was doing.

"Yes sir." I confirmed as the platform the mech stood on began to roll out of the hanger and into the open air.

"_Excellent. We will monitor your progress from the air._" He remarked as I looked out and saw everyone gathering into a shuttle. "_You may begin when ready._"

"Confirmed. Beginning startup sequence." I announced to everyone, flicking the three switches above me as the purr of the reactor in the back could be heard and felt. "OK… reactor is stable and warmed up. Sensors online, navigation online, weapons are hot… kinetic barriers at 100%. All systems nominal, we're ready to go."

"_Good luck, Captain_" He finished, cutting the connection and leaving me on my own.

"Alright Dan, let's see what you have for me." I remarked with a smile, putting out the OSD he gave me and inserting it into the mech's onboard computer. To my complete surprise, it began playing the Timothy Seal cover of Freedom Fight from MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries. I couldn't help but let out a belly laugh.

I took my first steps with the mech, initially surprised by how much bigger I suddenly felt. Standing still, you felt tall, but when moving you truly felt like a titan.

It didn't take very long to nail down the controls and begin my journey to Camp Dolor. I was going to follow the path through the forest, navigating a few obstacles before walking into the proving grounds. There, I would take out a dozen targets controlled remotely by Powell. All of them would shoot at me, and with live ammunition. The test would end after I destroyed the old comm station located on the other side of the proving grounds.

I began marching through the tree line, still unable to get over the sheer height of the trees native to here. My first obstacle came in the form of a large ditch that I had to use my jump jets to traverse. It was about fifty feet deep, and forty feet wide.

"Alright… earn your wings." I said to myself as I flicked the two switches that controlled the polarity of the mass effect fields. I could feel a small dip in my stomach as I reversed said polarity, causing the Dragoon to become lighter.

Then I fired my four jump jets, sending me careening over the gap and well onto the other side. The mass effect fields allowed me to jump much easier than I would have been able to do otherwise. I quickly reversed the polarity, returning full synergy to the reactor behind me.

The next obstacle was a large body of water that had frozen over the last few months. It went on for a full mile, and I had no time to waste. I walked into the lake, using my weight to effortlessly break through the ice and gain footing. Even in a vehicle this size, I could still slip on the ice in the right conditions.

After a bit of slogging, I finally made it to the other side of the lake. I turned around, seeing I had carved a straight path through the ice which must had been at least three feet thick. The snow had begun coming down so fast that I could barely see the shuttle flying overhead.

Nearing the proving grounds, I came across the last major obstacle. It was a large cargo container in my path from one of the old mining vessels. According to the terahertz locator installed by Dan, it was filled to the brim with rocks.

"Well, here goes nothing." I remarked, looking off to my left side as I lined up the Mk.1 Plasma Cannon and fired. The magnificent blast of plasma that emerged from the body of the Dragoon was bright, jumping from the barrel to the container in just the span of a few microseconds.

The container went up in a flash of molten material as everything superheated and expanded near instantly. It also created a large cloud of vapor as all the snow instantly boiled into steam. The cockpit actually got warmer before the thermal absorbers drew the heat towards the back of the mech.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… what a rush!" I said with a big smile as I gunned the legs back up and ran through the remnants of the cargo container with ease.

I had finally cleared the tree line and ended up at the proving grounds. The snow had maintained its thick coverage, keeping my long-distance vision to a minimum.

I walked carefully into the proving grounds, knowing that the automated units placed out here weren't the standard turreted junk piles that we had used before. The Admiralty had gone out of their way to nab several old military APCs out of their storage vessels, and even upgraded them with missile pods and large-caliber mass accelerator weapons.

It was a legitimate threat to my safety, but I was confident that I'd be able to handle it.

My first contact appeared a minute later, firing on me with a 120mm cannon. I quickly locked onto it, extending out all four 155mm cannons attached to my arms. All four guns tracked it, destroying it with ease. My kinetic barriers then detected a ping behind me as one of the APCs rolled around. It had come close enough that I could stomp on it, destroying it under pure weight.

Three of the APCs then began firing on me from a distance, two with cannons and one with missiles. They were half buried underneath dirt and snow, making them harder to hit horizontally.

The shoulder pods were loaded with HEX-186 missiles, a modern iteration of the famed FGM-148 Javelin missiles. Much like their older counterparts, they fired outwards before flying vertically. They would then slam into the targets from above where the armor was the thinnest, launching their high-explosive payload inside of the vehicle.

Each pod had eight HEX-186 ports, and forty-eight missiles per pod. In total, I had ninety-six missiles for use.

I locked onto all three of the targets, firing off a volley of nine glimmering missiles. Three for each target. It took five seconds for all of them to go up in distinctive fireballs.

Five APCs then rolled up onto the nearby ridge, coordinating their fire and firing down at me. I quickly ran behind a pile of scrap as the volley barely missed me. I ran back out into the open as their barrage ended, lining my body up with the ridgeline and firing the plasma cannon once more. The blast caused a miniature avalanche as the APCs were either blown apart or thrown off of the cliff from the blast. One of them landed right side up, breaking it's suspension but leaving the turret functional.

I quickly rushed the damaged APC, folding the 155mm cannons back up as I eagerly took manual control of the hands.

"Rip and tear!" I yelled out in my adrenaline-fueled excitement, pulling it up into the air and ripping it into two separate pieces. "Alright… where are the last two?"

My question was answered as mass accelerator rounds impacted me from several hundred meters away, knocking out my kinetic barriers. The last two targets were guarding the comm station.

There wasn't any cover here close enough for me to use, and I didn't have enough time to close the gap.

I then initiated what was known as an "Alpha Strike", and act where you fire all of your weapons at once to cause maximum damage. I didn't have the heat problem that occurred in the MechWarrior series, but instead I drained the power to the point where the mech was forced into an emergency shutdown state. I watched my HUD go dark as everything I fired tore apart both the remaining APCs and the old comm station. The plasma cannon impacted one of the APCs directly, turning it into slag as the missiles made sure the job was done.

I smiled as the smoke rolled through the snow, spiraling through the wind and disappearing into the winter sky. Even without my scanners, I could tell there was nothing left.

A few seconds later, the mech finished resetting itself, all systems coming back online.

"_Test completed. Good job, Captain. You gave us a fantastic show from up here._" Zadie announced over the radio as I allowed myself to relax.

"I do aim to please." I replied back, taking out my canteen and chugging down the water inside.

"_Return to CASTLE Base. We'll discuss current events once you arrive._" Rael ordered as the line was cut once again.

I nodded silently to myself, only now realizing that there were beads of sweat running off of my neck. I wiped them off, leaning back into the chair and allowing my breathing to normalize.

It didn't matter what the Admirals had in store for me once I got back. This was a blast, one of the coolest things I had ever done. I could honestly do it all day.

"And as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother fucker in the whole dammed valley." I quoted word for word as I allowed myself to grin from ear to ear.

…

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It was a very fun one to write, because let's face it… there's nothing more fun than walking around in a 70-ton death machine, blowing things to bits with the most expensive weapons available. I'm just hoping I didn't bore anyone with all the information I went through, because that's the last thing I want to do.**

**So, the mech test went very well and the Admirals have something they wish to discuss with Sean. What does it entail? Does the buildup in the fleet have anything to do with it? Find out next time!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	30. Convocation

…

"There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen."

(Jim Lovell)

…

CASTLE Base, May 21st, 8:52 AM, 2184

…

I opened the hatch with a small hiss, almost instantly releasing all the warm air inside the cockpit and replacing it with frigid cold. I climbed out, coming face to face with Dan.

"Did it look good from the air?" I asked without missing a beat as I put my normal gloves back on.

"It looked awesome." He answered with a big smile, offering a handshake that I accepted without hesitation. "Don't worry, we re-recorded all of it."

"Good, good." I replied, looking down at the shuttle to see all the Admirals talking to one another. "What did they think of it?"

He looked down at the Admirals too before focusing back on me.

"I think we sur…surpassed all their expectations." He said with confidence, crossing his arms. "Well, I guess I should let you go. They seemed eager to speak with you."

"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot." I finished, putting my hand on his shoulder and nodding to him before stepping onto the elevator and descending.

Back on the main hanger floor, I looked back up at the mech to see what kind of shape it was in. There was no damage on the mech, but it was covered in a ton of snow and ice. It was so packed with the white stuff that it almost resembled an ice giant from a fantasy book. The legs were especially icy due to me having walked it through a lake.

I approached the Admirals slowly, trying to mentally brace myself for whatever surprise they had in store for me. I was really hoping their news wouldn't be upsetting for me or my friends.

"What about that plasma cannon? Did you see how easily it cut through the obstacles in his path?" Zadie gushed in the middle of an ongoing conversation with the other Admirals, who were thankfully still unaware of my presence. "Have we considered using them on other vehicles?"

"According to the last report from Dr. Vsevolod, he and Dr. Nemo are already working on a version we can mount on the next generation of Cobra gunships." Gerrel replied, visibly annoyed by the cold. The thermal layers in his suit didn't seem to be helping much.

"For atmospheric use, of course." Rael added, before he and the rest of them finally noticed me approaching.

"Captain! That was an amazing show!" Zadie continued to rant, reminding me of an excited child. "You and your wife designed that plasma cannon, correct?"

"Uh… yeah. Yeah we did." I answered, trying as hard as I could to curb her enthusiasm. "It was pretty simple, really. All we had to do was upscale the original designs and balance the power, heat, and plasma subsystems, then-"

"That's enough for now." Rael cut off, taking a few more steps towards me. "I think we have more pressing matters to speak of."

"Yes, you're right." Raan agreed, nodding her head as she focused on me. "Captain, we've been having steady negotiations with the Systems Alliance for the last few weeks regarding possible trade deals. One of them would be particularly good for us as far as the shipyards go, but it also involves you and your team."

"What kind of trade deal would involve me and my team?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"Captain, what the Alliance wants to do is send an official, long-term representative here to live on Reach." Koris finished, cutting through all the bullshit and getting to the crux of the issue. "In return, we'll send our own representative to live in Arcturus Station, while receiving significant shipments of rare materials needed for our ongoing retrofits."

I stared at all of them for a few seconds, rolling around this information in my head. Something didn't sound right about this.

"There's more to this than you're letting on." I remarked, crossing my arms. "Why do both sides suddenly want to exchange representatives? This involves more than resources."

This time it was their turn to look between each other. They gave small gestures and nods to one another before speaking back up.

"Captain, the truth is the Alliance is looking to make the Quarians an official ally." Raan said, actually shocking me slightly. "According to Admiral Hackett, the Alliance is currently suffering from many issues regarding logistics, defense, and Cerberus. They want our help, but none of us want to make a decision yet."

"You mentioned Cerberus in particular. They've been feisty lately?" I prodded further, letting my arms hang at my sides again.

"In a matter of speaking, yes." Gerrel answered, looking up at the Dragoon mech. "Admiral Hackett believes that the Alliance is infested with Cerberus infiltrators. According to several of his reports, they've been ambushing Alliance convoys traveling through what are supposed to be secured trade routes."

"Somehow I'm not surprised." I replied, shaking my head in disappointment. "I think this can benefit the Fleet, but it has to be done right. I'll agree to it, but on two terms."

"What would those be, Captain?" Koris asked, crossing his arms as I heard him take a deep breath.

"First off, this representative has to be fully background checked, not a blemish on his record. I won't risk my wife or any of my friends with some spook who doesn't know a pen from a stick up their ass." I started, getting a small chuckle out of Zadie. "Second, I think it's only fair that we do a little trade of tech alongside this deal."

"What kind of tech trade?" Gerrel asked, still looking very uncomfortable in the cold. "A lot of your team's research is classified."

"My proposed trade is our experimental cloaking system for the one they used on the experimental Normandy-class frigate." I answered, looking hard at each one of them in succession. "Our prototype is already based on an old Alliance design, and we never got the system from that damned Cerberus ship. What do you think?"

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable offer." Zadie chimed in, nodding in approval. "Not only would we be assisting one another, but we'd also be upgrading our own stealth capabilities."

"We will weigh the options in more detail later." Rael said, trying to end the conversation before it could get too involved. "Doctor, there are two other matters me and Gerrel wish to speak with you about in private."

"Very well." I agreed, nodding to the other three Admirals as I walked away to the corner of the hanger with Rael and Gerrel. "So, what's the scoop?"

"First, smaller order of business, we've been looking at potential scenarios for a full-scale attack on Reach. We've taken everything into account, even potential Alliance invasions." Gerrel began, sounding much more serious than he had back in the group. "We've determined that there exist the possibility of an invading force outright avoiding Cairo Station, meaning there is a gap in the orbital defense grid."

"You're sure?" I questioned, folding my arms as I forced myself to begin thinking strategically. "We ran the projections, the station is supposed to be capable of… oh."

"What?" Gerrel questioned, leaning slightly towards me as I remembered something crucial.

"I ran those projections for a higher orbit pattern." I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "We anchored it in a lower orbit that originally intended."

"Precisely." Rael agreed, folding his hands behind his back. "By this point, Cairo Station is the primary line of defense for the fleet's orbital shipyards. It will be too time consuming to move both the station and the shipyards to a higher orbit, so we've decided to build a second ODP to bring up the rear and defend the gap _Cairo _leaves open."

I actually allowed my eyes to widen in surprise, completely caught off guard by the sudden news.

"You want to build another one?" I restated, still not believing what I had heard. "I thought you were pushing to focus on the Fleet refits."

"The refits are progressing along at a much faster rate than we had originally projected." Gerrel reassured, waving his hand dismissively. "If we can secure this deal with the Alliance, we will have a healthy surplus of high-grade materials to put into use. We'll be able to keep the progress in the shipyards steady, while simultaneously jumpstarting the construction of a new ODP."

"I suppose the reason you're telling me this is because you want me to oversee construction again?" I guessed as Rael let out an amused huff.

"You would be correct, doctor." Rael confirmed, crossing his arms. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"No, that just means I'll have to do a lot of rescheduling." I answered with a small chuckle of my own as I scratched the back of my neck. "I've still got other projects to work on, you know. I've got to design a ship system capable of transporting the Dragoon mechs, and begin development on the Phantom, Viper, and Python concepts."

They both nodded silently to one another in approval as worry slipped into my mind once more.

"So, what was the second thing?" I asked, leaning against a crate. "You mentioned there was something else."

"Yes… we wanted to inform you that Captain Daro'Zen vas Moreh may occasionally be in CASTLE Base to use your facilities." Gerrel began, taking a breath before going on. "You've met her a few times before. She's a very talented woman, though she is… borderline obsessed with the Geth."

"That may be putting it lightly. She's more infatuated than anything else." Rael said to Gerrel under his breath as turned back towards me. "She'll be working on possible countermeasures we can utilize against both the Geth and Cerberus, violent or otherwise. If she asks for any data or assistance, I expect your team to cooperate."

"If she expects Richard or Powell to consent to any "tests", she'll be in for a rude surprise." I warned, developing a clearly visible scowl.

"If any of her requests involve either one of them, you have no obligation to accept them." Gerrel remarked before taking a step towards me. "However, I recommend you at least hear her out and assess her request before making any final judgments."

"Noted." I replied, letting my shoulders sag back down as the conversation neared its end. "Forward me the preliminary data on the ODP. I'll begin preparations and work as many improvements into the new platform as I can. As for this ambassador, let me know when you have more information."

"Doctor." Rael finished as I nodded to the two of them and walked away.

As soon as I well out of earshot, I pulled out my earpiece and inserted it back into my ear canal.

"Did you catch all of that?" I asked clearly as I walked back towards the hanger doors.

"_We caught everything_." Dimitri answered over the comm, as I looked over at the other corner of the hanger to see Dan and Dimitri sitting by a pile of materials. "_While I know you still have distrust in Alliance, Sean, I believe Hackett will take proper steps to ensure safety of both us and quarian partnership._"

"How can you say that? You heard what they told me, they've got holes in the Alliance big enough to drive a semi-truck through." I shot back, still deeply torn on what to think about the issue.

"_Think about how t-this could shape the pol…political stance in the Alliance._" Dan insisted, making eye contact with me from many yards away. "_If the Alliance does solidify their r-relationship with the quarians, it holds the po… potential to weed out these infiltrators._"

"It also holds the potential to start a war." I reminded, taking a breath before going on. "You know as well as I that if the Alliance makes this official, the other Council races will eventually find out. I doubt the Council will take the idea of a Human-Quarian partnership very well."

"_Who cares what those bigots think?_" Dan asked with a hint of venom in his voice. "_To them, the quarians are nothing more than homeless beggars. Imagine what a bitch slap it would be to them all if they found out the quarians went from a race of drifters to a race possessing the most advanced military in galactic history._"

Dan's statement actually took me back for a few moments as I put some brainpower into it. Thinking about it, we've always been developing things for defensive purposes. Never once have I thought about offense, taking the fight to our enemies and showing what we're truly capable of. While the potential for these inventions as offensive weapons has been pondered, I'd never looked back at the whole picture.

The plasma gun and it's larger, cannon-sized brother were incredibly advanced, capable of burning through all conventional armors and rendering kinetic shielding useless. The Gen III and IV exosuits enhanced the capabilities of every individual soldier in drastic, yet cost effective ways without sacrificing the wellbeing of the wearer. The ODPs were large enough to completely destroy any known ship, and even held the potential to crack the crust of entire planets. The biggest advantage was still the Reach system, which could be used to bypass the Relay network entirely, thus avoiding standard planetary defenses and allowing a relatively small amount of ships to strike at their weakest points with ease.

All of this made the quarians more than a match for any race out there.

Despite all of this, my mind drifted back to those we had lost, those who couldn't be here with us today. Remembering them, I banished the militaristic thoughts from my head as focused back on Dan.

"Just because we can go to war, doesn't mean we should." I defied, pausing for breath as I thought back to Jack. "We need to be ready for the real threat that's coming, and I'm not going to throw all our advantages away just to satisfy a political agenda."

Even from this distance, I could see Dan shake his head in disappointment as he looked back to Dimitri.

"Either way, things are going to get much busier around here in the coming months." I began to finish, tugging lightly on my goatee. "Tell the others to be aware of the changes and to keep their ears open. I don't want any surprises to come out of nowhere and bite us in the ass like last time."

"_Very well, Sean. We will see you later._" Dimitri concluded as I shut off the comm link and walked out of the hanger back into the snow.

All I could wonder as I made my way back towards the underground facility is who the Alliance would send if this deal went through.

…

Serenity Valley, June 18th, 2:12 PM, 2184

…

The weekends were a nice time to take a breather and relax after a long workweek. No matter the job, nothing beat that feeling of "I have no obligations for the day" while sitting back and watching a movie with Mara.

I wished I was in the position to get that feeling.

I had been completely swamped with work for the last few weeks. At the moment, I was in the process of developing four new aircraft, another Orbital Defense Platform, and managing the logistics involved with starting production of the Dragoon mechs. Everyone was happy to pitch in with assistance, but they weren't the ones being constantly badgered by the Admirals with requests for status reports and time estimates. I was working overtime on all of it, and the news that this Alliance ambassador would be arriving soon wasn't helping in the slightest.

The guy's name was Lieutenant Gregory Buckell. Looking at his CSV, I had to grudgingly admit that the man's service record was very well-rounded. Joined the Systems Alliance ten years ago right out of high school and went on to fight in over a dozen small conflicts along the frontier. After saving his squad and a large group of human miners from a batarian slaver attack on Tyr, he was promoted to Lieutenant and invited to the ICT for Special Forces training.

He made it all the way to the N3 designation before learning he had begun to develop hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that thickens the myocardium, which in turn impairs his cardiac muscle. The condition is non-life threatening by our modern day medical standards, but prevents him from engaging in the same kind of heavy physical activity that regular service requires. It effectively killed his military career. From there, he joined Alliance R&amp;D as a military consultant before being invited to Hackett's personal staff.

Overall, he seemed to be a pretty solid guy. Hackett must have put a lot of faith in him to allow him not only into his staff, but to be the Alliance ambassador here in the Klenot system. Still, we would be the judge of that. If the guy was all of this and more, he'd have to prove it to us.

Dan, Dimitri, Sira and I went through the sobering process of clearing all the personal items out Jack's old housing unit. Gregory was going to be staying with us, which I initially objected to before being told to basically deal with it. I think the Admirals were attempting to use that "human connection" theory of theirs again, and I was really starting to get annoyed by it.

"Need any help with anything?" Mara asked, standing in the doorway with a glass of water in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other.

"I'm afraid there's not much here you can help with." I remarked as I leaned back in my chair, letting out a deep sigh. "When is that man supposed to arrive again?"

"Sometime between three and four." She answered, walking over to me and placing the steaming coffee cup on my coaster.

"That mean's I'll have to clean up soon." I groaned, burying my face into my hands as tried as hard as I could to keep myself under control. "Thanks hon."

Mara stood to my side and stared down at me for a few seconds with a mildly amused look on her face. I turned all my attention to her, confused.

"Ok… what did I do?" I asked as she let out a small chuckle.

"You know, I've never been able to pin down what exact accent you have." She replied, crossing her arms as she looked studiously into my eyes. "It seems to be pretty unique, whatever it is."

I stared back at her for a moment or two, not knowing what to say.

"I have an accent?" I questioned, completely in the dark as to what she was talking about.

"You honestly don't know?" She shot back with an even more chide expression on her face. "You say "hon" instead of honey, sometimes you roll your O's, and on the rare occasions you've even omitted entire vowels from words and shouted curses in… I think it was German?"

"Oh, you mean schiss?" I shot back, finally understanding what she was getting at. "Yeah, that's German for shit. As for the accent, I think what you're referring to is my mongrel Maryland accent."

"See, you just did it there." Mara pointed out as the smile on her face grew bigger. "Why do you pronounce it "Mare-a-lend" instead of "Mary-land"?

"To be honest, that's just how everyone says it there." I shrugged, thinking back to my parents. "My mother was raised in a German/Irish household in Baltimore County, while my father was brought up in a Polish home located in a city neighborhood known as Curtis Bay. Growing up, I guess I just mixed and matched certain phrase they used until I settled on this weird fusion of slang and city-speak."

"I like it, it gives you more character compared to the stilted way Dan speaks." She remarked, taking a seat across from me. "Why does he speak like that? I've always found it to be one of the oddest things about him."

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure myself." I admitted, taking a gulp of the warm coffee and savoring the warmth in my throat before going on. "Back when I first met him in high school, it was even worse, and he barely spoke at all. Took a while, but he started to get better."

"But _why _does he speak like that?" Mara pushed further, clearly interested in his condition.

"The speech impediment is simply part of his Asperger's Syndrome." I answered in the bluntest way possible. "I used to have one too when I was really young, I would speak so fast that no one but my parents could understand me. I went through a lot of speech therapy in elementary school to correct it."

"You used to speak really fast?" Mara laughed, rubbing her stomach before looking back to me.

"I still can." I said after drinking more coffee as I cracked my neck and took a deep breath. "It'sliketheclassicdebateofwhymeasuringthepositionofanelectronchangesitsmomentumandvice-versa. Theonlycorrectansweristogetdrunkandsetfiretothings."

That got a real sharp laugh out of Mara, who laughed so hard it brought her to tears.

"Oh my God, I never thought I'd hear the Uncertainty Principle described in that fashion!" Mara remarked while wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Did you and Dan come up with that?"

"No, it's from an old web series Dan and I used to watch." I reminisced, remembering my high school and college days. "That series always got funnier every time we watched it."

I looked at the clock, only just now realizing how much time was left before this Gregory character would arrive. It was 2:23.

"Crap, I've got to clean up before this guy arrives." I explained, downing the rest of the coffee in a few gulps. "I'll talk to you later."

"See you." She finished as I ran into the bathroom, stripping off my clothes and hopping into the shower.

I leaned against the wall of the shower as hot water rolled over my head, remembering my college days. I chuckled as I recalled an old prank Dan and I pulled on our Physics professor. On April Fool's Day, we hijacked his computer with VNC and played Brutal Doom on it in the middle of the session. That first shotgun blast was at full volume too, making everyone jump up in their seats. It took every ounce of self-control we had to keep from bursting out with laughter.

I cleansed myself once my scalp was nice and hot, making sure not to leave any soap in my hair this time. Once the shower was over and I had dried myself off, I took out my razor and began trimming all the random hairs off of my neck and cheeks. I had developed a goatee that would have rivaled my father's, though my hair hadn't begun turning gunmetal grey yet. If I did have that trait, I'd likely start seeing it within the next five or so years. I decided to keep my hair the way it was for now, electing to "comb" it back with my hand.

Back in the bedroom, Mara had returned to the main living space. I opened the dresser, picking out my cleanest lab coat and placing it on the bed before putting on the rest of my clothes.

Most of my t-shirts were surplus, consisting of a cheap material and a single color, while nearly all of my sweaters we handmade, covered in repairs and patches from frequent use. I threw on a plain blue t-shirt and put one of my few good green sweaters on top of that. From there, it was a simple choice of underwear, wool socks, identical jeans, and surplus combat boots.

I hopped in front of the body mirror to make sure I looked right, slipping on the lab coat and pinning on my ID tag. I looked pretty good all things considered.

"I think he's here." Mara announced as she opened the door, tearing my attention away from the mirror. I glanced over at the clock, seeing it was 2:56.

"Wow, he's early." I remarked, smoothing any remaining wrinkles out of my lab coat as I walked outside with Mara.

Currently, we were actually experiencing clear weather. The snow had begun to go down slightly since the sun was out, but I imagined it wouldn't be long until that changed. In this climate, we got at least one snowfall every few days.

While walking to the landing pad, we were joined by Dimitri, Dan, and Sira. Where Richard and Powell were, I had no clue at the present moment.

The shuttle appeared to be an Alliance variant of the UT-47 Kodiak. Unlike the ones we used to escape from The Barn, this one was equipped with a blue and white paintjob, and had visibly more armor added to the fuselage.

Everyone stood behind me as the heat from the engines blew warmer air towards us. The Kodiak landed with a gentle thump, sitting quietly for a few moments before the hatch opened up.

Gregory Buckell walked out into the cold air, wearing a long, white winter jacket that bore the Alliance logo as a small patch on his chest. He wore this with his standard blue and black BDU. He was about the same height as me and Dan, had short, dirty blond hair that barely moved in the wind, and had green eyes.

He immediately made eye contact with me, walking over to me with a gaunt that suggested a sense of purpose.

"Greetings, Lieutenant. Welcome to Serenity Valley." I greeted, offering the man a handshake. He accepted it with healthy enthusiasm, immediately cracking a smile.

"I'm not much of a Lieutenant anymore, just a man working for the Alliance. Call me Greg." He humbly corrected before looking at each one of us in detail. He then focused back on me. "I assume you're Captain Michaels? The one in charge around here?"

"You'd be correct in that assumption." I confirmed as I folded my hands back behind my back. "Since we're being informal, call me Sean. The only ones who call us by our formal names are our quarian crew members and the Admirals."

He nodded in acknowledgment as I turned around to face everyone.

"This is Dimitri, he's the mind behind a lot of our weapons tech." I introduced as the two shook hands. "You two share something in common, you're both former Alliance military."

"Really?" Greg remarked in surprise. "Who'd you serve with, Dimitri?"

"I served under Admiral Kahoku during Skyllian Blitz." He answered with a small smirk before his expression quickly turned sad. "I still can't believe he's dead."

"He was a good man." Greg finished with a somber tone, returning his attention to me.

"This is Dan, he's my best friend and trained in many scientific disciplines, mainly theoretical physics." I continued, as Dan reluctantly shook his hand.

"Be seeing you." Dan said with a blank tone, causing Greg to shoot a look of confusion before he looked back to me.

"Don't mind him, we're a little… weary of newcomers." I reassured, turning to Sira. "This is Sira, she's our expert in Element Zero physics and applications."

"Ma'am." He greeted with a firm handshake as she let a smile cross her face. She nodded to him, pursing her lips as her posture became very stiff.

"This is Mara, my wife. She specializes in thermal projection, though she's talented in just about anything she does." I finished, stepping slightly to the side.

After looking reluctantly at his outstretched hand, she quickly shook it before letting go.

I recognized that handshake. It was the exact same one she gave me and Dan four years ago back on Aldrin Station.

"I see you two are expecting. Congratulations." He remarked, likely trying to diffuse the tense air that had formed.

"Thank you." I replied, nodding to everyone that they could go. "Our esteemed colleagues Richard and Powell are currently not here, so I'll show you to your quarters."

"Very well." He agreed as we both walked through the gravel path that led to Jack's old colony prefab. "This unit used to belong to a colleague of ours, Dr. Jack Windham, though he is unfortunately no longer with us."

"What happened to him?" He asked, a look of seemingly genuine shock crossing his face.

I debated how to respond for three seconds, know knowing if I should ignore his question or if I should just tell him. I decided to tell him, thinking that his reaction might give me a better idea of his character.

"He was shot and killed during our escape from a Cerberus facility known as The Barn." I answered without holding anything back, walking up a few more steps before stopping. "Those monsters just shot him in the back, an old man in his 80's. He was like a father figure to all of us, and then he was suddenly gone. Just like that."

Greg looked down at the stairs as a somber air formed around us. I walked to the top of the stairs, leaving Greg behind for a few moments before he quickly jogged back up to me.

"He's buried over there by the ridgeline." I said, pointing at the spot where we laid him to rest.

We both stared out at the valley for a few moments, with nothing but the howling sound of the winter wind to fill the void.

"I'm sorry, I can't imagine how hard that must have been." He remarked as I turned back to face him.

"It's alright. He's in a better place now." I finished with a nod as I took out the keycard to Jack's unit and waved it over the scanner. "Well, we're neighbors now. Here's the card. If you need anything in particular, either ask us if we have it or put in a request to our suppliers. They'll usually have it for you in about a week."

I opened up my omni-tool, sending our list of supply runners to him before giving him another handshake. I pulled him slightly closer, leaning towards his ear.

"I'll tell this to you once, and only once." I began in a grave tone while our hands were still clasped together. "If you do anything to threaten me, my wife, friends, crew, or any of the quarians, we'll make sure you never leave this planet again. Understood?"

He looked into my eyes for a few seconds, a conflicted expression clearly plastered on his face.

"I understand." He confirmed in a slightly softer, surprised tone.

"Good." I said, letting go of his hand as I leaned by head back and took in a deep breath. "We're having our weekly group dinner at Dimitri's quarters tonight. He'll be cooking up some vat-grown burgers and a few potatoes we grew in our hydroponics lab. You're invited."

"I'll be there." He said quickly, already knowing what I was getting at.

"Sounds good." I declared, beginning my walk back down the stairs. "See you, Greg."

With that, I left him to his own devices as I made my way back home. I was fairly certain he had gotten the message. While I felt it was important for me to say, I honestly had a good feeling about the guy and felt slightly bad about my threat.

That's didn't matter now. What was said was said.

I couldn't wait for dinner tonight.

…

**A/N: So, an interesting series of developments! Trade deals, ambassadors, new ODP and new ships, the list goes on! I think things will begin to get more interesting very soon. I know the political stuff isn't that interesting, so I tried to further flesh out Sean's personality to make up for it.**

**My new semester starts up again in a week, so my writing schedule may become slightly more spaced out. Luckily, I'm only taking two courses this time, so I'll have a lot more free time open to writing and job-hunting. Also, we've reached chapter 30! Huzzah!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	31. Refection

…

"Ninjas understand quantum mechanics a lot more than people realize. That was a controversial part of my dissertation."

(Freeman's Mind)

…

Serenity Valley, June 18th, 6:24 PM, 2184

…

I stood next to Dimitri, taking in the lovely smell going through the air as we worked on tonight's group dinner. Dimitri was cooking up burgers, while I cut up some French fries to throw in his fryer. We were using the potatoes we grew in the CASTLE Base hydroponics lab.

The burgers were grown in special fabricators from cow muscle tissue samples in what basically amounted to a culture dish. They lacked the same fat content as an actual slab of beef, but they were much healthier and tasted almost as good as the real thing. As for the potatoes, they were first-generation, Reach grown Russets. They had a tough skin that could be further stiffened by boiling them for a few minutes then drying them out in the oven. So far, we've made mashed potatoes, potato skins, and now French fries.

Only years later did I truly appreciate the green thumb by mother had passed down to me.

Dimitri's unit was decorated in a way that reminded me of an outdoorsman. His dinner table and the chairs around it were made from the nearby trees, there was an axe leaning next to his doorway, and he was currently wearing a stereotypical, red and black plaid "lumberjack shirt". Most of the walls were covered in pictures of us or designs he had lazily left lying around. He was almost as bad as Dan and Richard in how he handled his documents.

The most obvious thing in his living room however was the M2 Browning heavy machine gun he was currently building. It sat in the middle of his large coffee table next to several related blueprints in various states of assembly. Of course, it wasn't an original. He had been slowly fabricating parts for it, hoping to make it operational by the end of the year. It would work on mass accelerator mechanics due to the expenses he'd have to go through to make the 50. BMG it would normally fire.

I couldn't wait to see it.

I looked at the table to see Sira focusing on her datapad. She was still trying to work on improvements for the MES system, which had finally been installed on Cairo Station. The tests were showing great promise, though installation had been difficult in the initial stage. I imagined once the second ODP was finished, they'd begin adding the system to the Liveships.

Richard was sitting in the chair next to her, barely conscious. He and Powell had been working constantly for the last week upgrading the framework inside of the quarian envirosuits. It involved a series of optimizations to all the suit systems, especially the decon and medical portions. Powell had elected to stay back at CASTLE Base and continue the work while Richard came home for R&amp;R.

Mara was sitting closest to us, listening to some classical music through a pair of earbuds I made for her. She had started wearing maternity clothes now the baby bump was beginning to form, though this hadn't detracted from how beautiful she was at all. She had been a great help to me in the past weeks, helping with my workload when she wasn't sifting through the archive data in CASTLE Base.

Last but not least, there was our new neighbor Greg, sitting at the very end of the table and going through his first e-mail dump from the Alliance. According to what the Admirals had told me, he'd be spending a lot of his time visiting various Captains in the Fleet, speaking to them and trying to build relationships. I could only imagine the flak he'd receive as an outsider, especially on ships like the Idenna.

He'd have to be a smooth talker to hit it off with Captain Mal.

"It is good that we have cheese this time around!" Dimitri said as I turned to face him with a smile. "You can't have burger without cheese."

"I couldn't agree more." I replied, throwing the last of the hand cut fries into the basket and inserting it into the deep fryer. It boiled up as the moisture in the potatoes immediately started evaporating, sending a cloud of hot vapor into the air before I threw the lid on it. "Did you remember the ketchup this time?"

"Yes! It is in fridge, though I had to get it in can form." He announced, walking over to the fridge and pulling out said can. He tossed it at me.

Catching it, I looked at the label to see it was good old-fashioned Heinz Ketchup.

"You're a lifesaver, man." I jubilated, giving him a quick handshake.

"I try to be." He nodded as he turned back to the burgers.

I stared at the can, recalling my oldest memory. It was back in 1996, a year after I was born. I was but a wee little baby, and my parents had stopped into a Friendly's on Richie Highway for lunch. I can distinctly remember sucking ketchup off of a French fry my parents were giving me, smiling as I did so.

This would be my first time eating ketchup in years.

"You're looking a little… nostalgic there, Sean." Mara commented, pulling one of her earbuds out.

"You wouldn't be wrong." I said, placing the can on Dimitri's countertop. "I've eaten ketchup since I was a kid. Not having it for the last few years has really been putting a hamper on my eating experience."

She simply shook her head, letting out an amused huff.

"What can I say? I'm a creature of simple tastes." I finished, pulling the now finished French fries out of the deep fryer and throwing them into a paper-filled wire basket. "Let's eat!"

"Sounds good." Richard remarked with the faintest amount of enthusiasm, smiling as he forced himself to wake up fully and sit up straight in his chair.

After placing the basket in the middle of the wood table, I walked back to the kitchen area and began opening up the can of ketchup as quickly as possible. Once it was open, I grabbed a bag of rolls and placed both on the table.

Once we were all sitting around the table, I quickly did the Sign of the Cross before folding my napkin and placing it on my lap. As I began putting fries on my plate, Greg looked over at me with a confusion all over his face.

"Ok… what's wrong?" I asked, taking my eyes off of him for a second to grab a roll before focusing back on him.

"What was that? The gesture you just made?" He inquired, scooting closer to the table in his chair.

"Oh, this?" I said, repeating the movement. "That's the Sign of the Cross. It's an old Catholic gesture."

"You're religious?" He questioned, looking slightly intrigued.

"Eh… not really. It's more of a habit than anything else." I shrugged, offering the basket of French fries to him. "Want any?"

"Sure." He agreed without hesitation, taking a small handful and putting them on his plate.

I we all ate in relative silence for a minute before Greg looked to Richard.

"So Richard, why couldn't your colleague Powell join us here tonight?" He asked, still munching on his fries.

"He's busy working on a framework upgrade for quarian envirosuits." Richard answered bluntly, wiping off his artificial eye with a napkin before taking another bite out of his burger. "Besides, Powell never comes to our dinners. It's kind of awkward eating around someone who can't do the same."

"What do you mean?" Greg prodded further, looking even more confused.

"You'll find out tomorrow." Richard reassured, speech muffled due to his mouth still being full of food.

"Why don't you tell us more about yourself, Greg?" I asked, putting down my burger and leaning back in my chair. "Got any interesting stories? That CSV Hackett sent us mentioned something happening on a planet called Tyr."

This made him stop and think almost immediately. He leaned back in his chair, looking down at the floor before speaking up.

"Well, on Tyr, we had been sent there to investigate an emergency signal being broadcast from a mining facility." He began, focusing on his plate as he spoke. "According to said message, the "miners" claim there had been an accident in the facility and needed help."

"Tyr was mining planet in Exodus Cluster, correct?" Dimitri asked, testing himself to see if he was indeed correct.

"Yes, it's right near Terra Nova." He confirmed focusing on Dimitri. "Right now it's just a mining planet, dominated mostly by teleoperated facilities and a few manned ones."

"That makes it an e-easier target for pirate attacks." Dan commented, only halfway through his sandwich.

"Actually, not as easy as you'd normally think." Greg corrected, pointing in Dan's direction while holding a fry. "The Sixth Fleet is normally stationed in the Exodus Cluster due to its proximity to other important star systems. It helps deter pirate attacks somewhat. The problem is it's also the only system connected to Kite's Nest."

"The Batarian home system, right?" I asked, trying to make sure I remembered everything correctly. "I think I see where this is going."

He nodded, leaning one of his elbows against the table. "We go down there, me and a squad of eight other men. Once reaching the facility my friend Phoenix and were ordered to stay at the shuttle and prep emergency gear."

He took a sip of water before going on, looking back at all of us this time.

"As it turns out, the miners had been captured by batarian slavers and the emergency message was being used to lure in unsuspecting people. Like us." He went on, running his hand through his hair. "Forty-five or so minutes later, we decided that something isn't right. We grabbed our weapons and entered the facility quietly, and soon made it to the primary dig site. There, we looked down to see our commander, another one of our squad members, and several of the miners dead on the ground. Not far from them, the survivors were tied together in rows, ready to be transported."

"Ok… how did a bunch of slavers ambush six fully-trained Alliance marines?" I asked, leaning against the table and looking harder at him.

"According to our surviving squad members, our commander threw caution to the wind and moved forward without examining the situation any further. Once they were in the right spot, the slavers who outnumbered the squad nine to six jumped out and took them by force." He continued, gesturing with his hands as if he were holding a rifle. "None of them were prepared for it. The commander and ensign Yamata tried fighting back, but were killed almost instantly in the ensuing gunfight."

"What did you and Phoenix do?" Dimitri asked, looking very interested.

"Well, I quickly looked over the mineshaft, marking down the positions of all the slavers before slowly moving up towards the main processing area." He went on, giving us the general layout of the area through hand gestures. "We managed to knock out the two of the scumbags before we split up and found a good spot to set up my sniper rifle. Phoenix moved down the shaft, getting as close as possible to the group before I opened fire. Three of the ones policing the prisoners went down as he popped out of cover, gunning down three more with his rifle. The remaining trio took cover inside of a tool shed as everyone down the ground got back up and began running."

"From that point, I ran down the shaft to help Phoenix out with the remaining three. He managed to take down one of them before taking a round to the gut." He explained, grabbing at his side as if he had been shot. "I pulled him back into cover before moving up towards the shed with a grenade at the ready. I tossed it inside, blowing both of them out into the open. One was killed instantly in the explosion, while the other landed on the ground, defenseless and in extreme pain."

"So'd you kill him?" Dan asked, holding up his head with his arm.

"No, I slapped some handcuffs on him before running back to Phoenix and administering medical aid." He finished, taking a sip of his water. "We later learned that his group had been pulling jobs like this for the last year, hitting remote mining installations and abducting the workers. The higher-ups apparently thought I handled the situation well enough to promote me to Lieutenant and invite me to the ICT."

"Wow…" Sira blurted out in what I could only imagine was a "dreamy" tone, before quickly snapping herself out of whatever trance she had allowed herself to fall into. "That's a great story! No wonder you were chosen to be their ambassador."

"I suppose." Greg shrugged, looking back at his plate. "I was Hackett's first choice. I find it hard to say no to the man, I respect him too much."

"Has Hackett discussed the possible ramifications of this partnership with you?" I inquired, calmly crossing my arms in front of me. "If this thing goes public, the Council isn't going to just sit down an accept it."

He stared into his plate for a few more seconds as he went over the facts in his head. He then looked back to me with a more determined face.

"We've been balancing the potential issues. Hackett isn't worried about their reactions as much as he is the problems that'll arise in the absence of our partnership." He replied with a much sterner tone as he leaned towards the table. "He mentioned you were all aware of the Reaper threat?"

That really got everyone's attention, especially Richard, who dropped his burger back on his plate the moment he heard the name dropped.

"More than aware. We know that they're the single biggest threat to civilization as we know it." Mara confirmed, leaning back in her chair. "The Admirals though… we believe they are still on the fence regarding the topic."

"What does the Alliance currently know about the Reapers?" I asked after taking a sip of water.

"Very little." He replied, popping a fry into his mouth before deliberating. "All we know is that they are unbelievably powerful, equipped with massive eezo drive cores and possessing highly advanced weapons and kinetic barriers. They can land on planets and attack certain points of interest with incredible precision as demonstrated during the attack on Eden Prime. As far as their motive goes, all we have is an anecdotal report from Commander Shepard regarding a brief conversation he had with the Reaper who attacked the Citadel. It's only goal appears to be the death of all sentient life in the galaxy."

Richard took a deep breath, staring down at his plate with a one-thousand mile stare clearly evident.

"I still don't understand… what purpose does killing all sentient life in the galaxy achieve?" Sira inquired, clearly and understandably confused.

"We simply don't know." He admitted, staring over at us for a few moments before his omni-tool began beeping. "Oh, don't mind that. It's letting me know it's time to take my medication."

He took a small container out of his pocket, taking two pills out of it and popping them into his mouth. With a swig of water, he gulped them down.

"Beta blockers?" Richard asked, gaining his immediate attention as he slipped the container back into his pocket.

"You would be correct." He nodded, grabbing another handful of fries from the bowl. "How'd you know?"

"While I do focus mainly on brain chemistry, I am fully certified as an all-around medical professional." He answered, blatantly flaunting his credentials. "That, and I read your CSV."

"I should have guessed." He shot back with a huff of amusement as we all focused back on our food.

It was hard to admit, but I was starting to like this guy.

…

CASTLE Base, August 9th, 11:57 AM, 2184

…

I walked back and forth, checking over the data on my personal datapad as I occasionally looked back up at the Viper and Python prototypes being built here in Hanger 4.

The Viper was slated to be the new Interceptor for the Migrant Fleet, armed with four 58mm mass accelerator cannons and a slew of other armament options. As an Interceptor, its job involves hunting down drones, fighters, and of course, other interceptors. I based the whole design off of the Swordfish II from the old 90's anime series Cowboy Bebop.

The Python would be part of the line of new Fighters, resembling traditional 21st century jet fighters. Its job focused on dealing fast and heavy damage to enemy ships. By default, it came with two 58mm mass accelerator cannons and two disruptor torpedo launchers. It even included a nasty little invention Dimitri cooked up called the Hunter Micro Missile System.

This system deploys a swarm of small, rocket-propelled explosives. When deployed in a zero-gravity environment, the shotgun shell-sized explosives will launch themselves towards hostile targets attacking marked locations or certain energy signatures. The projectiles are too small to be targeted by anti-missile defenses, and hold the potential to attack many different targets at once. I was impressed.

All of this was being built with the goal of restoring the quarian's fighter and interceptor capability, something they've been severely lacking for years. As far as larger ships, I had given the Phantom project over to Dan and Dimitri to handle while I squared away the issue of developing a ship to transport and deploy the Dragoon mechs.

The _Phantom-class_ frigate was what the Admirals were really interested in at the moment. It would be a stealth frigate similar to the Alliance's _Normandy-class_, but it will utilize both the visual cloak and radar masking systems developed by each respective party. You won't be able to track it, and you won't be able to see it. It can be used as a deep-cover scout ship or as a first-strike deployment vessel. This was a big deal, not because it would be incredibly advantageous, but also because it would be the first quarian-built ship in years. As such, it would be employing a mix of quarian and human design elements.

The dropships were the harder bit, though. The easiest way to build them would be to mod the standard modular _Kowloon-class_ freighters into sub-orbital dropships, through modifying a pre-built ship could present problems down the line. Any ship we custom-built for this would have to be capable of holding at least two of these mechs, and would ideally be able to defend itself it attacked. Luckily, we still had time to narrow down what we'd be doing for them. The Dragoon construction process was slow going.

All of this was stacked on top of the construction of the new ODP, which was moving at a steady pace. The design of the station is largely the same as the first, though there are a few differences. The biggest difference is that this one is being built with the newest model of the MES system, which will better "hug" the hull and be more energy efficient than the one we installed and tested on Cairo Station. The second was the installation of plasma thrusters in the place of the old RCS systems. These would allow the station to orientate much faster, didn't need refueling, and eliminated the need to vent excess plasma from the reactor.

Above all else, the biggest thing was Mara and I's child. The baby bump was very clearly visible, and growing bigger seemingly every week. I didn't know whether to be thrilled or terrified. We were technically only a month away from the end of the pregnancy, and I still had no idea what to do about it all. I could only hope that when the time came, there wouldn't be any complications. As part of our preparations, we managed to get a new half-sized housing unit attached to our dwelling to use as our child's room. We currently had a crib and a few toys, but other than that, it was still very barren.

With everything going on, I didn't know how I was still functioning at a "normal" capacity.

"So… which o-one do you think will fly first?" Dan asked, snapping me out of my thoughts as I swiveled around to face him and the two crafts being constructed.

I pondered his question for a few moments, looking between the two before making my decision.

"The Viper." I answered without hesitation, pointing at it with my free hand.

"Still having a-aspirations about being Spike Spiegel, huh?" He shot back with a shit-eating grin, knowing full well why I had chosen the design.

"Hardly. I don't plan on dyeing my hair green anytime soon, even if it is my favorite color." I replied, running my hand though said hair. "If I can swing it, I'm going to keep the prototype for myself and paint it red."

"Of course." Dan finished, shaking his head with a smile.

We continued to look over the progress so far for a few minutes before my omni-tool began ringing. To my utter surprise, it was Richard who was calling.

"What's up, man?" I asked, throwing my datapad underneath my armpit.

"_I need you to come over to my lab and get rid of this Daro'Xen woman._" He said in a hushed tone, sounding annoyed as he put emphasis on "rid". "_She has been in my lab asking questions for the past hour, and I haven't gotten any work done since._"

"Why haven't you asked her to leave?" I questioned, not understanding why I had to get involved.

"_I did, she keeps repeating "only a few more questions" only to keep going._" He stressed, letting out an audible exhale. "_Can you please come and get rid of her?_"

I let out my own sigh of annoyance before focusing back on my omni-tool.

"Yeah, I'll be down there in a few minutes." I agreed, cutting off the call and looking back to Dan. "I gotta go take care of a small problem. Make sure they align those engine buffers correctly, otherwise the ship will shake to pieces at full power."

"Got it." He confirmed as I collapsed my datapad and began my walk back to the underground portion of CASTLE Base.

Before long, I was in the elevator with a few engineers going down to Sublevel 3. The entire facility has been busy the last month since the Admirals started pulling volunteers in for rotations. It seemed the Admirals were working on a few projects of their own, most of which involved specialized upgrades for the various ships in the Fleet. The retrofitting projects for the non-quarian ships were difficult due to the various different designs and layouts chosen by other species. Some ships required rewiring, engine replacement, and even complete overhauls.

While ships were being worked on in space, many quarians are either taking military training courses on Reach or volunteering for work around the system. From what I had heard, many younger quarians were now being put to work on the shipyards or being pressed into military service instead of going out on the traditional Pilgrimages. This was apparently due to how increasingly dangerous the rite has become since the Fleet relocated to the Klenot system.

I honestly hadn't counted on the repercussions of the Fleet's isolation. Sure, the coming-of-age could still choose to go on the traditional Pilgrimage, but the suspicion regarding the location of the Migrant Fleet cast a lot of possible danger over anyone who goes out there.

Regardless, the quarians were doing extremely well. Soon, there would be enough ships available to send regular patrols outside of the system, and Greg had even mentioned that there was something in the works regarding a possible joint mission between the Alliance and the Migrant Fleet. He hadn't told me much, but I did know it involved Cerberus.

Luckily for me, I wasn't in charge of any of that. I already had enough hellishness to deal with without rebuilding the Fleet, organizing personnel, and negotiating military action.

It was hard to admit, but I was really starting to like Greg. He was incredibly focused, keeping his mind centered on the topic at hand and very knowledgeable in military history. I was extremely surprised to see he too was a World War Two nut ball like me. We spent at least two hours discussing the Battle of the Bulge a few nights ago, ending it off with a conversation about the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer.

Once the elevator had reached Sublevel 3, I walked over to Richard's lab, straightening my polo shirt as I mentally prepared myself for whatever was awaiting me on the other side of the door.

The door slid open, immediately drawing the attention of the three individuals in the room.

"Hello Dr. Michaels." Powell greeted as I walked in, setting down my rucksack in the corner.

"Hello Powell, Richard." I returned respectively before looking harder at Xen.

Daro'Xen was always one of those names that seemed to pop up on a regular occasion, whether it be at Conclaves, hearings, and even muttered about by the Admirals themselves. Despite all of this, I had never held a conversation with the woman and had little idea what to expect from her.

"Ah, Captain Michaels." She acknowledged, bowing her head slightly. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced before."

"Correct." I replied, taking a deep breath. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh no, I was just asking a few questions regarding your… friend Powell here." She explained, crossing her arms as she flipped back around to look at him. "Such marvelous technology… the things I could learn from yo-."

"Xen." I began in a no-nonsense tone as I took a few steps forward. "Don't."

"Don't what?" She questioned, turning back to me. "This unit is not only undamaged, but the first fully-functional unit we've seen in years. That's not even counting the cybernetic prosthetics Dr. Karpyshyn over there possesses."

"I'm only going to give you this warning once, Xen. Leave these two alone." I said, pointing at her. "If you have any questions for them, you put them through me. Got it?"

She then let out a disappointed sigh, shaking her head with her still crossed arms.

"Very well, Captain." She agreed, letting her arms fall back to her sides as she walked towards the door. "If only you'd see the value in that unit."

"His name is Powell." Richard angrily corrected, poking his head over a stack of papers to look at her.

"Either way, I'll be taking my leave." She finished, walking out of the lab.

"God, finally." Richard exclaimed, throwing himself into an office chair and rolling back to his workbench. "Thanks Sean."

"Don't mention it." I returned, thinking about Xen. "I should go talk to her, try to smooth down the hostility that just occurred."

"See you back at the homestead." Richard replied as I ran out the door to meet back up with Xen again. She was about halfway to the elevators when I caught up with her.

"Xen, we need to talk." I started, seeing her stop and turn as soon as she heard her name.

"About what, Captain?" She asked, obviously still annoyed. "I already agreed to follow your wishes and stay away from them."

"Listen… I don't want to be on bad terms with you. Let's go talk about what we're both looking for out of each other in my office."

"Very well." She begrudgingly agreed to, following me into the elevator. Once in my office, she took a seat in one of the two wood chairs in front of my desk as I took as seat in mine.

Since getting comfortable down here, I recently installed an old analog clock, along with a bookshelf decorated with a series of books, data drives, and knick-knacks. I also 3D printed a model of the Dragoon mech, putting it on the corner of my desk. It was one of the first things Xen noticed.

"Hm, your office seems rather… opulent." She remarked, running her hand over the curved wood before looking back to me.

"Yeah, well the work we do affords us a few benefits." I nodded, putting my fingers together as I leaned back in my chair slightly. "I am sorry about what happened downstairs, but I can't have someone interfering with my team's work."

"I'd prefer not to talk about it. Semantics are boring, and will only get us so far." She dismissed, looking at the items on my bookshelf in disinterest.

"Very well then." I agreed, dropping the subject as I found myself slightly surprised by the authority she threw off. "So… I've heard conflicting things about you. What's the story?"

"What is there to tell? I want to return our people to the homeworld and reclaim the Geth as their rightful masters!" She announced with confidence, holding her arms out.

I stared blankly at her for several seconds before she went on.

"You seem confused." She deadpanned, readjusting herself in her chair.

"That's an understatement." I answered, not moving my body at all. "I'd say you're insane, but that wouldn't be professional."

"You're just like the others, unable to look at the big picture." She mocked, looking to the model on my desk. "If we can regain control of the Geth, we'll not only be reclaiming out lost heritage, but also the largest army in the galaxy. No one will be able to oppose us."

"Forget what I said a few seconds ago, you really are batshit." I shot back, unable to comprehend the scope of this woman's ego. "Listen, I appreciate your support with our previous projects and everything, but if you really think you're going to "reclaim" the Geth, you're in for a rude awakening later down the line."

"Why do you say that? Do you not think we should have what rightfully belongs to us?" She accused, standing up and looking down on me.

"I think subjugating a race of sentient beings to the will of someone else is slavery, and should be fought at all costs." I replied with a raised voice, getting out of my chair. "Your rhetoric disgust me, and it's frankly disgraceful. Get the hell out of my office."

"Fine then. When our species regains what we've lost and reaps the fruits, you and you're friends will be left behind to dig for what's left. Remember this." She finished, barging out of my office without another word.

I sat back down and stared into space for the longest time, trying to process in my head what exactly had just happened. She went from a rouge variable to top of my shit list in less than five minutes, and somehow there wasn't a physical fight. That in of itself was an achievement.

I took a deep breath, taking note of everything. I would have to keep an eye on her.

…

**A/N: So, Greg has joined the group, everyone's gotten to know him, new tech is being built for the Fleet, and Xen has made her formal introduction in a rather incendiary fashion. Interesting things are afoot, and who knows what'll come next.**

**For anyone worried about Lydia (otherwise known as Athena), the quarian crew, or any other characters, don't worry, they'll have their time in the spotlight soon. Lydia's situation keeps her from doing much outside of the _Explorer_, and the others have been quiet as of late.**

**College is back in full swing, and with everything that entails. Math is still as much of a pain in the ass as it's always been, and the Biology is presenting a few challenges as well. Chapters will be slow to work on as I stated before, but they will come out. I promise you that.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	32. Escalade

…

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash."

(George S. Patton)

…

MSV _Explorer_, August 12th, 9:43 AM, 2184

…

Today was the day I went through the _Explorer_ to check up on everything. It was a bi-weekly event, every other Friday. I made sure to check up on the crew, making sure they weren't getting into trouble and that they were keeping the ship in order. I also took the occasions to check in with Lydia in a secure location to go over whatever info she had managed to scrap together from Fleet communications.

I hadn't slept well the prior night. I had been suffering from increasingly intense nightmares, and I still had no idea why. The last one had involved my family once again, and I couldn't help but feel deeply disturbed by the shit my mind was conjuring up these days.

I yawned, pulling my arms back as several satisfying pops could clearly be heard. I then rolled my neck, getting similar sounds in response.

"You alright, captain?" Lenlo asked, looking back at me from the main bridge console.

"Eh… sort of." I answered, folding my hands behind my head. "I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night."

"Funny you should mention that." Kirva said, looking back to her console as she continued to speak. "I didn't get much either. Couldn't seem to get comfortable."

"Yeah, I wish it was only discomfort for me." I replied in a somber tone, drinking deeply from my coffee cup. "Tell me you two… you ever have a nightmare so… terrifying, that you could have sworn it was real?"

They looked back to me, stopping his system diagnostics to pay full attention to our conversation.

"Only once or twice." Lenlo answered truthfully, looking at the deck for a second before going on. "I'm assuming you had a bad one, sir?"

"It was like I was really there, Lenlo… everything felt real, even the sun on my skin." I elaborated, knowing full well that I likely sounded like a nut. "It's the worst feeling you could imagine, having everything fall apart around you like that… it just takes something with it."

He looked away from me again as Kirva continued to stare, likely because they didn't know how to respond.

"Listen, do you know if there are any doctors here in the Fleet who specialize in psychological treatment? A psychologist?" I asked in the vacuum, walking back over towards their stations.

"Hm… well, there's a few around the Fleet, mostly on the medical ships." Lenlo answered, standing up to get a better look at me. "I think you'd have to go up there and look yourself."

I nodded back to him, straightening out my growing moustache with my thumb and index finger.

"Well, thanks for the talk you two." I finished, turning around and walking out of the bridge. I walked into the CIC, stopping to stare at the holographic projection of the ship as I mulled over status reports and ran them against the ship's automated systems.

"Bad dreams, huh?" Lydia asked in a concerned tone, her avatar materializing next to the Explorer. "You know, they're usually triggered by stress or anxiety."

"Well, there's been no shortage of that lately." I remarked in a deadpan, overlaying a visualization of the power grid into the hologram to check the flow. "What's going on in the lab? There's a small power drain."

"That's just Biss, running another one of his experiments." She dismissed, waving her hand towards the door before focusing back on me. "You know, if you want psychiatric help, you could just talk to me."

All I could do was sigh in response, biting my finger as I focused back on the images in my mind.

"What, you're not afraid to ask me for help, are you?" She questioned after my pause, putting her hands on her hips.

"No, no! It's not that!" I immediately defended before looking back down and cracking a small smile. "It's just… I never imagined I'd be offered something like that from Dan's little sister."

"Well technically I'm now the older one, but then again I'm not exactly on the normal age range anymore." She replied with a bemused expression, eyes narrowed and lips pursed slightly as she shook her head.

"None of us are." I corrected further, allowing myself to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. "Well listen, maybe you and I could have a little sit-down tomorrow in the briefing room?"

"That'll work fine, it's not like I have much else to do around here." She agreed, crossing her arms as she created several new windows of text in front of herself. "So, in other news there's been another buildup of system patrols. This time, they added a grand total of forty combat-ready cruisers to the Patrol Fleet."

"When was this?" I asked, surprised at the number of ships they had decided to reallocate.

"Surprisingly enough, this happened overnight." She answered, enlarging a system map she had made to show the distribution. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're gearing up for something."

I looked over the fleet movements, trying to get an idea of what they were going for here. The movements hadn't been isolated to the rim of the system this time, but instead they had been redistributed closer to Reach itself. We already had the bulk of the Migrant Fleet orbiting around the planet, leaving me confused as to why they had moved them back in.

"Strange, really strange." I remarked, rubbing my chin for a moment before looking back at her. "Was that all you could find?"

"All I could find on the non-restricted channels." She mused, crossing her arms once again as the lights flickered for a few seconds. "I'll let you know if I come across anything else. In the meantime, you should probably check on Biss. Those power fluctuations are creating annoying hiccups in the ship systems."

"I'll have a word with him, don't worry." I reassured dismissively, waving my hand goodbye as her hologram flickered away.

I cleared my head as I walked into the science lab, formally the communications center. After we had received our lab at Camp Dolor and more recently CASTLE Base, it's only seen use from Biss so he could test his eezo theories when he had free time. This had kept him from being a lot less… twitchy around people, but then again he wasn't really the sociable type anyway.

Biss was bent over looking into the anaerobic chamber at a chunk of refined eezo I had given him. He stared at it as if he was looking at some newly discovered creature or mythological object.

"Biss?" I asked out loud, causing him to jump up in surprise.

"Oh, s-sorry Captain. I was… immersed." He apologized, grasping his datapad hard with both hands as he focused on me.

"I can see that" I replied, putting my hands in my pocket as I slowly walked over and looked into the chamber. "What are you doing right now?"

"W-well, I'm using a linear accelerator to mildly excite the Element Zero. I'm then recording any fluctuations I see for my next test." He explained, looking into the chamber with me.

I always found Eezo to be really odd looking, especially as someone who used to know a mineralogist at MIT. Best I could describe it, it was like a piece of anthracite that was pitch black and covered in oil. No matter how you harvested it, it always looked like a mix between coal and graphite. Depending on how the light was, it often reflected back in a variety of colors much like a fresh oil stain. Right now, it was emitting a faint blue glow as the charge flowing through it created a weak mass effect field.

Being antimatter, Eezo was an anomaly in more ways than one. Unlike elements such as Uranium-238 and Plutonium-239 which experience radioactive decay over time but remain as spent fuel, Eezo goes through particle decay. This means it will eventually cease to exist over its lifespan, "fizzling away" or "dissolving" much like table salt in a water source. The big question was where the energy went afterwards.

"So, narrow down any theories yet?" I asked, straightening myself back up as I looked at him and expected a slew of new theories.

"I think I have, though I'll need to do a few more tests before I can be sure." He said much to my surprise while nodding to himself, opening up a report he had written up on his datapad and handing it to me. "My hypothesis is that there's an underlining dimension to the universe where energy enters a sort of "background layer". It flows through at certain intervals and causes small, gradual changes that can eventually cause things such as black holes, nebulas, and even planetary and solar masses to gravimetrically destabilize in one way or another."

"Wait, like gravity?" I asked, trying to get a better handle of what he was saying. "We already know gravity exist everywhere around us, but it's at its weakest away from celestial bodies and strongest near singularities."

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He confirmed, pointing at me very quickly with excitement in his voice before recomposing himself. "I think this energy is bleeding off into the background of the universe and creating a "ripple" effect through space-time, causing irregularities in masses having strong magnetic fields."

"You mean thing like planets and stars?" I attempted to clarify, starting to see where he might be coming from with this.

"Yes!" He yelled in confirmation, gesturing with his hands as if he were about to start pulling out his own hair. "I've been researching v-various gravitational anomalies around the galaxy, trying to get a handle of the overall effect this could be having. First, there's Patatanlis in the Han system where the planet has a thin atmosphere despite its size and density compared to other similar planets. Second, there's the star Dholen in the Far Rim which is reportedly aging at an accelerated rate and… releasing above-average levels of solar radiation. Finally, there's the planet of Ekuna in the Salahiel system where the planetary gravity has actually increased and decreased multiple times over past decades."

"Ekuna? Isn't that one of the planets the Fleet tried colonizing before we came along?" I asked, trying to get all my facts straight.

"Yes, we tried to claim it for ourselves a few decades ago before the Council told us to get lost and handed it over to the Elcor." He answered with a bitter tone before shaking his head. "Anyways, I was going to bring this to you later, but since you're here I'll just give it to you now."

He pulled an OSD out of one of his pockets and handed it to me, lightly grabbing my hand.

"Listen… I think I really have it this time." He began, still holding my hand with the OSD as he spoke. "I know I have been really obsessive over this and it's a lot to ask for, but if you think my research is credible and worthy of further investigation, I'd like to try and organize some kind of science mission to visit the Dholen system and investigate the disturbances in person."

I was surprised by his sudden push, almost flabbergasted. My eyebrows shot up as I took a deep breath.

"That's quite the tall order, Biss." I said as I opened my palm and looked at the little storage unit. "I can't guarantee anything, but if your research is as hard-hitting as you think it is, I'll certainly try my best to get you what you want."

"Thank you, Captain." He replied with a nod and slightly squinted eyes that could barely be seen. "I'll continue my work in the meantime, but please let me know if you have any other questions for me."

"Will do." I finished as I turned on my heel and walked out of the lab. Once I was back in the silent hum of the CIC, my mind began racing as new ideas and theories began running through my gears.

The conversation had jogged a memory from before involving Klenot, our system's star. If his theory about the dark energy causing bodies with gravitational fields to destabilize was correct, that means our star could have once experienced this very same phenomena. However, I still didn't understand how it could have possibly returned to normal after that. Once a star has aged past a certain point, it doesn't just return to a previous state. The gasses and matter needed to keep it at that threshold would already be gone.

Something here wasn't adding up, and I was now determined to find the answer.

I walked out of the ship back into the slightly warmer air, remembering that the long winter was nearing its end. It was drizzling gently, cold rain pelting down from the gray sky. Most of the snow in the valley had melted by this point, causing a lot of minor flooding farther down the valley.

I hopped on my quad bike, throwing on my hood as I fired up the electric engine and sped off to CASTLE Base. It wasn't a long ride, it only took two minutes to drive to the facility. I flashed my ID to the guard who let me in without delay, driving in and parking next to Hanger 1 where the Cobra line was being developed.

Inside, Dimitri and Dan were showing the ships off to Greg, who had expressed interest in the project and asked if he could come check it out on his day off. I couldn't blame him, the Cobras were damn fine ships, even if they hadn't entered full production yet.

"So these plasma cannons are just upsized versions of the rifles being used by the marines?" Greg asked, looking up at our X3 variant, which had been built solely for atmospheric combat and even included the latest iteration of the MES system.

"Da, they're not as destructive as main cannon on Dragoon mech, but they fire faster and don't require as much power or plasma to operate." Dimitri pointed out, looking up at the barrel.

"They were actually easier to build than the rifles, ironically enough." I remarked, gaining their immediate attention as I walked towards them. "Still, developing the rifle taught us valuable lessons. I'd hate to see the old "start-up burst" with a cannon of this size."

"God, r-remember back on Aldrin? That one commando?" Dan recollected, jogging repressed memories hidden in my skull. I remembered a man who had been vaporized from the waist-up by Mara and I's earliest plasma weapon.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that." I said, trying to end that line of thought as quickly as possible as I shook the image out of my head. "Anyways, enjoying the tour?"

"It's been very interesting." He nodded, letting a smile cross he face as he rubbed his hand alongside the bottom of the gunship. "Any chance we could take it for a spin at some point?"

"Heh, maybe a-after we run a few more tests." Dan replied with a huff, tucking his datapad under his arm. "We're still try… trying to make sure there i-isn't any imbalances between the s-ship systems and the reactor."

"Fair enough." He accepted without any argument, looking back to me. "Anything interesting happening?"

"Mm… not really, I'm planning on going over some research Biss gave me on the _Explorer_." I answered, flashing the OSD he had given me and slipping it back into my pocket. "It might sound crazy, but I think he's actually on to something this time."

"That's a first." Dan joked, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah? Well, there's always a first time for anything." I mused before my omni-tool began beeping. "Excuse me."

I walked out of the hanger, turning on my omni-tool to see it was Lydia.

"What's going on?" I asked, knowing she wasn't technically supposed to contact me while in the base.

"_I need you to get to the top of that communication tower and give me direct access into the Fleet network_." She ordered in a no-nonsense deadpan, once again surprising me. "_Don't ask questions, there's no time to explain. Just do it._"

Without a proper response to her order, I simply decided to follow it, running my ass as fast as possible to the comm tower and hopping into the elevator. At the top, there was a small room with two radio operators in it, who were obviously surprised to see me.

"Captain, is there something I can help you with?" One of them asked, getting up out of his chair to meet me.

"I need immediate access to the Fleet network, I think something bad is going on." I said without skipping a beat, walking over to the main console.

"Yes sir." He agreed, hopping on his own console and helping grant me access to the network.

I hooked my omni-tool to the console, giving Lydia full remote access to the entire Fleet.

"_Oh my god, it's even worse than I thought._" She said in my earpiece so the other two wouldn't be able to hear. "_The Admirals were tipped off by Alliance sources that Cerberus is going to attempt an attack on the system. It's expected to occur today._"

"Jesus Christ." I exclaimed, looking harder as the report popped up in front of me. "That can't be right, I would have been told about this!"

"It was only sent an hour ago." She quipped, highlighting the time it was received. "The attack could happen at any time."

I flipped myself around, looking at one of the two radio operators as I prepared to order him to get me in contact with the Admiralty. Before I could do so, everyone received emergency messages from Fleet Actual on their omni-tools.

"_Attention, this is Fleet Admiral Han'Gerrel! Cerberus battle groups have entered the Klenot system in large numbers. They appear to be targeting the ODPs and are releasing large swarms of landing craft to directly attack the surface of Reach._" Gerrel announced, able to be heard perfectly as the message overrode all loudspeakers in the area. "_All combat personnel proceed to your assigned posts. Civilian personnel, either prepare for enemy contact or take proper measures to ensure you, your friends and family are in a well-protected location. Stay safe, Keelah se'lai._"

With the end of the messages, emergency sirens began blaring all around the base as the military personnel kicked themselves into gear and most of the non-combatants began running towards the door to CASTLE Base's interior.

"_He's not kidding, they jumped two carriers into the system and dropped in a horde of shuttles, gunships, and fighters before jumping off again._" Lydia said, confirming my worst fears. "_It looks like a large contingent of them are heading towards our region._"

"Seal up the Explorer and engage the stealth systems until everything is over." I ordered to Lydia as I took out my Carnifex and checked to make sure it was fully functional. "If the situation in space looks like its going south, break radio silence and let us know."

I immediately turned the base's loudspeaker system back on to try and remedy the chaos, knowing that if these people didn't get inside many of them might not survive.

"Anyone that isn't combat trained, drop whatever you are doing and get inside CASTLE Base! Evac!" I ordered, trying to keep things as calm as I possibly could. "Marines, gear up and give them hell! Don't give them any ground!"

Everyone began running across the stretch of concrete between the hangers and the base entrance as the fighters and gunships closed in. The sirens could barely be heard in the distance over ours as they passed over Camp Dolor, anti-aircraft guns and GUARDAN arrays targeting the swarm of aircraft as best they could.

"They're not all going to get there in time." I said to myself, struggling to balance multiple different thoughts in my head as I pulled out my omni-tool and hopped back into the elevator with the two radio operators. "Guys, we need to hold them off. The civilians aren't going to make it without more cover."

"_Meet us at Cobra, we have idea!_" Dimitri said and finished in less than two seconds, cutting the line as I forced myself as fast as I could to the Cobra hanger.

Inside, I found Dimitri and Greg climbing into the X3 variant of the Cobra.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, pausing as I grabbed ahold of the ladder. "This is still in the experimental phase. I can't guarantee a power balance between the cannons and the shields."

"We have no choice, Sean. It is best option we have." He replied, offering me a hand up which I accepted.

As I strapped myself into one of the gunner's consoles, I looked around noticing Dan's absence.

"Where's Dan?" I asked, knowing he had been here a few minutes ago.

"I think he ran off to other aircraft hangar, but I am not sure." He answered as he got situated in the cockpit. "Make sure gunner stations are ready!"

"Got it!" I agreed without hesitation, firing up the console as the ladder retracted back up into the ship.

"Have these things even been tested yet?" Greg shouted over the channel as I looked over at him across the cabin from me.

"Technically." I mused as calmly as possible as I armed the cannons and the power levels shot up. "Don't worry, we're more likely to get shot down than we are to die from a plasma cannon blowback."

"Oh, that's comforting." He shot back with a deadpan expression as we ascended and shot out of the hanger at near breakneck speeds.

By this point, they were just about here. The fast-moving fighters were already over us, firing on anything that looked even relatively important. They focused on taking out the GUARDAN arrays placed around the mountain, taking a few losses to clear the way for the landing craft and gunships.

We flew around the mountain, two fighters giving chase. Greg took control of the new ceiling turret through the console, firing at them with the 20mm cannon. He hit one of them, blowing a hole directly though the cockpit and sending it into a nosedive. It exploded on contact with the forest below.

"Keep as many of them off of ground as possible!" Dimitri shouted over to me as pings of gunfire already began flaring the shields. By now, we had cleared the mountain and were heading directly towards the formation's flank.

I opened fire with the plasma cannons, landing direct hits on three of the landing craft before we started taking fire from the gunships. As the crafts spewed flames and tumbled out of the sky, Greg blasted away at the gunships as they, along with the fighters, began giving chase.

Dimitri revved the engines up to put some distance between us and the gunships. They began firing heat-seeking missiles at us as a result, causing my radar display to light up like a fireworks display.

"Oh boy, I think they're angry!" Greg shouted with equal parts amusement and concern as the blue streaks inched ever closer to us. "I don't think your new shields will be able to take that much damage!"

I killed the power to the cannons to give us more shield strength. The missiles began hammering us, causing the power levels to plummet as the shields struggled to replace all the energy being exhausted. The last two missiles impacted, causing the reactor to go into the red as the displays began to brown out.

"I need to shut down shields, it's too much for reactor!" Dimitri shouted as he turned back towards CASLTE Base and it began to get very hot in the cockpit. "I'll try to switch on the kinetic barriers, but it might not be-"

He was cut off as the remaining fighter caught up with us, plugging the rear of our ship with gunfire.

"Son of a bitch!" Greg shouted, ducking his head before throwing his head back towards the console. "Let's see how you like it, you cocksucker!"

He fired the 20mm cannon once again, blowing out the engines of the fighter and causing it to explode in mid-air.

"Nice shot!" I congratulated, letting myself crack a smile as I prepared to open fire on the aircraft again.

By this point, eight or so shuttles had landed troops into the base and our guys in the Gen III and IVs were doing their best to fight them off. They were having a hell of a time trying to deal with both the ground troops and the gunships despite the defensive and offensive upgrades they had received.

We swept over the hangers, shooting down as many of the gunships as we could using the plasma cannons and the roof turret. Our kinetic barriers took a beating, going down after we had taken five more of the gunships out of the sky.

We then suddenly took a hard hit to the reactor, sending shards of hot metal through the back compartment and knocking out all power to the ship. I felt my stomach drop as inertial dampeners went offline.

"Hang on!" Dimitri shouted, angling our descent as we sped towards the tarmac below. I used the chair to help brace myself against the console for the inevitable impact.

We landed hard, loud screeching filling my ears as we skid across the concrete. If it weren't for the harness I was strapped into, I would have certainly been thrown to the floor.

"Ugh… is everyone alright?" I asked, unhooking myself from the chair and weakly walking into the middle of the cabin.

"I am fine." Dimitri answered, pulling himself out of the cockpit and over to where me and Greg were.

"All things considered? I'm peachy." Greg moaned, popping the muscles in his neck before getting out of his own seat.

An explosion could be heard outside, causing all of us to look back towards the cockpit windows.

"One of the gunships is coming back around!" Greg shouted, causing us to run back towards the thicker part of the craft. It strafed us, peppering the cabin in the front with mass accelerator rounds.

For the longest time we all stood there, still staring into the area where we had previously been sitting before I spoke up.

"We need to get out of here." I stated as calmly as I could as I forced my breathing to return to normal.

"I agree." Greg said without protest as we walked into the cargo bay.

The inside of the bay had been jolted really hard from the impact. Panels had been thrown off the walls, insulation was hanging from the ceiling, and the reactor in the back was on fire and leaking its blue plasma from the cannon fire it had taken.

"We'll have to use top hatch, side door is jammed." Dimitri said, walking over from the door and pulling down the retractable ladder.

"I'll take a peek. If the coast is clear, we'll make a run for one of the hangers." I announced, climbing up the ladder and undoing the seal.

I lifted the hatch up slowly, taking a peek through the shoe-sized opening. Out in the distance, I could see fire being exchanged on both sides of the fight as the gunships flew overhead. I heard a distorted voice to my left shout "Hey!" before I looked over to see a Cerberus commando donned in full gear level his rifle at me. I barely closed the hatch in time, slamming it down as a round ricocheted off of it. I fell off of the ladder, landing directly on my gluteus maximus.

"Fuck… no, the coast isn't clear." I announced as bluntly as I could, standing up and quickly shaking off the pain. "We're in trouble."

"Yeah, trapped in a burning aircraft and surrounded by hostiles isn't the best of situations to be in." Greg joked, pulling out his standard-issue Alliance Kessler handgun. "Man, just when I thought this whole "ambassador" job wouldn't involve gunboat diplomacy…"

"_Was that you guys who j-just skid across the tarmac?_" Dan suddenly chimed in on me and Dimitri's omni-tools.

"Where have you been?" I asked, slightly annoyed that he had run off instead of joining us. "We could have used your help up there!"

"_I've been preparing a l-little surprise for those Cerberus sc-scumbags._" He answered, sounding strangely thrilled to my surprise. "_Hang onto your butts!_"

Dan cut the channel as large vibrations could suddenly be felt through the ground.

"He didn't." I remarked in disbelief, running over the cockpit window to look out at Hanger 3.

I watched with Dimitri and Greg as Dan, having commandeered the original Dragoon mech, forcibly pulled open the hanger doors and walked outside to where all the fighting was happening.

"_You fuckers picked the wrong people to mess with!_" Dan shouted over the mech's built-in loudspeakers before starting up Magna's "Divide" and blasting it as loud as possible. The moment the commandos saw him, they immediately began running.

"Holy shit, run!" One of them yelled before Dan easily cut him and his buddies down with a hail of automatic cannon fire.

Two gunships maneuvered around, firing at the hulking mass of titanium and steel with no effect whatsoever.

"_Oh, that's good!_" Dan mocked over the music, firing a few HEX missiles at the gunships. He blew them to smithereens. "_Keep'em coming! I can do this all day!_"

Having cleared away the guys who had surrounded the Cobra, Dan gave us the all-clear and walked towards where the fighting was still happening as the three of us climbed out of the ship and made a run for the nearest hanger.

"What should we do now?" Dimitri asked through strained breaths as Greg popped a few pills from the case out of his jacket.

"Not much we can do." I admitted, knowing we had already exhausted our only real option. "I think we should hunker down in this hanger's offices until the situation changes. It's too risky to go join the fight without our kinetic barriers."

"I…agree…" Greg wheezed out, having reached his breaking point as far as his heart condition goes. "Bunker up… until things improve."

With that, we climbed into the offices on Hanger 4, knowing being up higher would prove advantageous if more commandos did attempt to enter the area.

I sat near the door of the section, trying to process what exactly had led up to this point in my day. All I could muster up in my head was that the next day wouldn't be pretty, whatever happened.

I hoped that Mara, Richard, Powell and all my crewmembers were safe. I couldn't handle the thought of anyone getting hurt now, especially at this point.

With the adrenaline wearing off, I suddenly became very tired, dozing off into a restless sleep as the explosions in the distance faded away and gave way to silence.

…

**A/N: Lots of developments! More talk of eezo problems, nightmares, and a full-blown attack on the Klenot system? Why did Cerberus attack so suddenly? Who will win the fight? Next time.**

**Sorry once again for my update schedule, college has been sucking me dry like a vampire, taking all my writing time and willpower with it. It's a pain in the ass, especially when it comes to my math courses, but I was determined to get a new chapter to you guys. I hope you liked it!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	33. Synod

…

"Always on the forefront of technology, the UAC is making safer worlds through superior firepower."

(Doom 3)

…

CASTLE Base, August 12th, 2:29 PM, 2184

…

Walking across the tarmac of CASTLE Base, I could see lots of debris and wreckage strewn about the area. Burned out hulks of crashed shuttles, gunships and fighters were everywhere, either smashed into the ground or the surrounding hangers. I looked over at one of the shuttles we had shot down, seeing the charred bodies of the individuals who had been inside. Smoldering bone and armor was all that was left of most of them.

The sight alone was gruesome enough, but the smell… that coppery, sulfur-ish smell… no one blamed me for emptying my stomach of all its contents on the spot.

We had done incredibly well by all regards, if the initial reports I was able to pick out were any indication. Though, you wouldn't know it just from looking at the condition of the base.

I held a rag to my face as I tried not to gag at the smell, walking back towards the main entrance to CASTLE Base. There was a dozen or so Cerberus commandos who had surrendered being escorted to the edge of the base by marines in Gen IV exos where there were secured cells waiting for them. Luckily for us, there were very few losses.

"God, I can't believe they'd be stupid enough to do something like this." Greg mused, walking alongside me as Dimitri followed behind us. "What made them think this was a good idea?"

"Beats the hell out of me." I dismissed, squinting in minor pain as some smoke blew into my eyes.

"This operation did not appear to have high probability of success." Dimitri mused, who refused to use a rag to cover his nose. Though he was tough, I could see the thinly veiled disgust on his face.

"I'm telling you, if it weren't for those shields, this attack could have turned out a lot differently." I replied, letting out a sigh as I rubbed my sore neck.

"If we hadn't gotten warning from Alliance, shields wouldn't have made that much of a difference." He shot back, looking me directly in the eye.

"True." I admitted, looking at Greg who whipped around to face both of us.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. If I had known, do you really think I would have come all the way over to the base?" Greg deflected, the three of us stopping in our tracks.

"Are you implying you wouldn't have come?" I pried, causing his face to change immediately.

"No, that's not what I meant!" He defended, sounding mildly angry. "As an Ambassador of the Systems Alliance, I'm not supposed to just throw myself into combat situations, especially with my heart condition! Standard operating procedure is to seek shelter!"

He turned away from us, looking at one of the still burning wrecks near us.

"Besides, I wouldn't have kept that information from you guys. Look at all this." He remarked, kicking a piece of metal. "God, this isn't what I wanted to experience here…"

I allowed myself to nod in understanding, looking up at Dimitri.

"Hackett likely informed Admirals through secure data stream established after partnership was formed." Dimitri theorized, coming to what I knew was most likely true.

"But why wouldn't they tell us?" I asked out loud, putting emphasis on "us" as I finished my question. "What kind of bullshit mental gymnastics did they go through to prepare in space but leave the rest of us down on the ground hanging dry?"

Dimitri shook his head in confusion as I saw one of the base marines running towards us.

"Captain Michaels, sir!" The woman greeted with a salute, standing as straight as a plank as she spoke. Her envirosuit appeared to be slightly scorched from the fighting.

"Sergeant." I returned with a nod and salute, folding my hands behind my back.

"Sir, the base has been swept. No more hostiles have been found, and our ground crews are now deploying the fire suppression equipment." She informed, holding a datapad tightly in both hands.

"Good. Tell the marines in the Gen IVs to keep a constant eye on the prisoners until we've got a place to relocate them to." I ordered, alternating my gaze between her and the prisoners being moved farther ahead. "Once the fires are out, get some volunteers out here to find out what the damage is and begin cleanup procedures."

"Yes sir." She finished, running off as she held one of her hands to her helmet to radio in.

I took another look around the base, seeing the rising smoke columns drifting off into the valley. I could only imagine what condition Camp Dolor was in at the moment, seeing they too had fires to put out.

"Hey Dan, where you at?" I asked into my open omni-tool, trying to get status updates.

"_Right now I'm p-patrolling the outskirts of Dolor to make sure t-there's no stragglers in the forest._" He answered in a calm tone, heavy thumps clearly heard in the background. "_How about you guys? Still hanging in there?_"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I replied in a slightly more somber tone as I tried to think of what to say, but got hung up as the words got stuck in my throat.

"_Hey, don't worry. We'll fix every… everything up good as new._" He reassured, sensing the hesitation in my voice. "_We'll make these b-bastards pay, Sean. It's only a matter of time._"

"Thanks Dan, I appreciate it." I finished, forcing myself to keep moving forward.

The heavy blast door into CASTLE Base began sliding open as the low-level all clear was called. To my immediate surprise, one of the first people to run out of the underground facility was Mara. The moment she locked eyes with me, her face lit up.

"Sean! She yelled out in joy, fighting back tears as she gave me a tight hug. "I heard the announcement over the base speakers… what happened?"

"It's hard to explain, it happened so fast." I started, trying to recall exactly what had happened. "Once the alert from Gerrel went out, me, Dimitri and Greg hopped into one of the gunships to try and repel the shuttles. We knocked some of them out before getting shot down ourselves. We hid in one of the hangers while Dan and the marines mopped up those who had managed to land."

"It wasn't easiest landing I have performed, but we landed safely and no one got hurt." Dimitri mused with a satisfied expression.

"No one who didn't deserve it." Greg amended, cracking a small smile.

"Want to come to my office for a while? There's some things I want to check down there." I asked, holding both of her hands gingerly.

"Sure." She agreed, giving me a curt nod.

"Alright, we shall look for ways to help up here." Dimitri finished, waving with Greg as we both walked off.

We walked into the interior of CASTLE Base, the door wide open to accommodate all the people making their way back outside. I allowed myself to sigh, wiping a bead of sweat off of my head with the rag I had used to cover my face.

"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked, grasping my hand tighter as we exited the elevator and towards my office.

"Physically, yes, mentally, no." I admitted, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Mara, they attacked us on our front doorstep. How do you think I feel?"

"I know; I'm shaken as well." She said, running a hand through her hair.

Once sat down, I opened up the left side of my desk and pulled out a single whiskey glass and a bottle of Bulleit Bourbon. I had been keeping the liquor here for a while, saving it for the right moment. Whether or not that moment was now, I had no idea, but either way I was having some. I poured two fingers into the glass, immediately downing it without a second thought. Mara watched from across my desk with a confused look on her face.

I shook my head in shock, feeling the burn the moment it touched my throat. This stuff was like sucking pure grain alcohol through a piece of cork, and it tasted about as good. I hated it.

I only ever drank the stuff for two reasons. One, it was the first alcohol I ever had, bought for me for my 21st birthday by a relative of mine. Second, it was one of the few whiskies that gave me that strange, warm feeling in my belly. That feeling was very relaxing.

"I know you're stressed out, but is this really the time to be drinking?" She chastised, crossing her arms.

"Don't worry, this is all I'll need." I reassured, slamming the glass back onto the table bottoms up.

After letting the feeling wash over me for a few moments, I pulled my omni-tool off and placed it directly in the middle of my desk. I knew that soon, I'd get one of those two inevitable calls from the Admirals either asking me for an assessment, or to attend an emergency Conclave. I wasn't looking forward to either of them for obvious reasons.

I put the bottle of Bulleit back into the desk as I entered the Fleet network on my personal computer. I accessed the camera systems of the _Cairo_, hoping to see what exactly happened up there in orbit. Unfortunately, the servers were too busy at the moment to grant me access to the video records, so I opted instead for a live feed from of the video drones the _Cairo_ had deployed.

"Oh my god…" Mara let out, covering her mouth in shock as I froze in place, forcing myself to keep my eyes on the screen.

For a lack of better ways to describe it, what we saw was pure devastation. The shiny, polish hulks of the Cerberus ships twisted and churned as micro debris littered the space around them, glimmering like little mirrors. Holes the size of buses could be seen on the fresh wrecks, burnt and charred. Among the debris were bodies, and lots of them. Many of these people hadn't gotten the chance to put on any emergency EVA equipment, and died gasping for air as they were thrown out into space.

I forced myself to turn off the feed, immediately regretting my decision to view it in the first place. I looked back to Mara, who had the same horrified expression that I did. Neither one of us knew what to say.

I began asking myself deep down why I was feeling so sorry for these people. These were individuals, men and women, who had willfully chosen to become members of this terrorist organization. Yet… I still felt an incredible amount of sympathy for them. The true fact of the matter was that despite their actions, it was still an incredible loss of life. These people's lives all ended here in this alien system where they believed they were doing something that benefitted their ideology. The reality of it all was incredibly sobering, almost tragic.

My thoughts were cut off as my omni-tool began playing the Imperial March theme, something that seemed more ominous than humorous given the current situation. I looked between Mara and the device for a moment, seeing her nod to me before I answered the call.

"_Captain? Are you there?_" I heard Raan ask out loud due to me not having said anything initially.

"Yeah… I'm here." I answered bluntly, forcing my tone to be as neutral as possible as I began pacing back and forth.

"_Listen to me Captain, I know what you're thinking right now, and we'll-_" She began, putting on her most sincere voice before I slammed my hands down on the desk in anger.

"What exactly am I thinking right now, Admiral?" I interrupted, looking hard at the omni-tool on my desk. "Am I thinking about how the five of you neglected to warn us of the imminent Cerberus attack on the facility, or an I thinking about all the subsequent losses and damages we incurred as a result of said attack? Please, feel free to tell me which one it is."

"_Captain, please listen to me._" Raan urged, clearly able to feel the venom in my voice. "_We barely had enough time to ready our space forces. By the time we had finished our preparations in space they were already launching their assault._"

"That's bullshit and you know it!" I shot back, feeling my head getting warmer as I began to lose focus. "You've been prepping the ships since last night! Now you're either going to tell me the real reason why you neglected us during this process, or I'm formally calling off all our projects down here until further notice."

There was a long pause in the conversation, which confirmed that Lydia was right in her assessment of last night's fleet movements.

"_I'm sorry, Captain._" Raan finally replied, her voice much lower. "_The truth is we suspected Cerberus was running surveillance on CASTLE Base, and we didn't want to interrupt standard operations and risk them learning that we were aware of the incoming attack._"

"You still could have warned us, given us a heads up of some kind!" I shouted at her, nearly in a furious rage. "I've got dozens dead and injured down here, Admiral, and I fail to see how any of this couldn't have been avoided!"

"_We will make reparations, Michaels._" Raan said in the sincerest tone I had ever heard out of the woman. "_You have to forgive us. We didn't expect this to happen._"

"I don't have to forgive anyone; forgiveness is given to those who deserve it." I threw back at her, resisting the urge to pick something up off of my desk and chuck it across the room. "Don't call me for anything else until the Conclave is organized. I don't want to see you or your cohorts unless absolutely necessary. Michaels out."

With that, I cut off the transmission, throwing myself back into the office chair and letting out a deep breath as I attempted to calm myself.

"Enigma and Ultra." I heard Mara mutter as she stared at the models on my desk.

"Huh?" I questioned, looking directly at her.

"During the Second World War, the Germans made widespread use of a rotor cipher machines known as Enigma machines to transmit classified information." She began to explain, sitting forward in her chair. "The Allies organized and handled decrypted information from the Enigma machines under the name Ultra."

"I already know about the code-breakers and their struggles during World War Two." I mused, leaning against my desk. "What about it?"

"Well, they were able to view the decoded transmissions, but they couldn't act on all of them or else risk revealing to the Germans that they had cracked their machine." She continued, just as I realized where she was going with this.

I took a deep breath as she looked harder at me.

"You know what I'm talking about." She correctly guessed as I propped my head up with my left arm.

"Unfortunately." I answered, pinching the bridge of my nose once more in an attempt to release some pressure from behind my eyeballs.

This day was only just beginning.

…

MSV _Explorer_, August 12th, 4:14 PM, 2184

…

We connected with Cradle 3 of the _Rayya_, a gentle thump resonating through the hull as the magnetic seal was made. It felt odd being up here again with the _Explorer_, though it wasn't unwelcome. I just wish it was for a better reason than this.

Being back up here with my all friends reminded me of when we had first docked with this ship, desperately flaunting out technology to convince the quarians to take us in. It was almost surreal. Even Greg was accompanying us, and looked none too happy in regards to expectations.

"Alright Lenlo, keep her safe until we get back." I ordered, waving at him as the airlock doors closed and sealed behind me.

We all slipped on our masks, making sure the seals were tight as the decon sequence began. It sprayed us down as it always did, leaving a quickly settling cloud of vaporized hydrogen peroxide and nitrogen dioxide in the chamber. This wasn't the standard decon cocktail, it was specially made for transitioning between Reach's atmosphere and the sterilized environments of the Fleet.

Everyone was dead quiet, though I suspected our minds were anything but. I was still fuming at how the Admirals had treated us down on the ground. They absolutely devastated the opposition in space, but we suffered many losses down on the ground both at Camp Dolor and CASTLE Base. I could feel my knuckles go white I was squeezing my fists together so hard.

Richard was the one to break the relative silence, though I wish he hadn't.

"We're going to war." He said without any provocation, causing both me and Dimitri to look back at him.

"What makes you say that?" Dimitri inquired, hands still folded behind his back.

"There's no way the Captains are just going to let this go." He went on, doom and gloom readily apparent in his voice. "An attack like this will come with a cost."

"It already has come with a cost." Sira shot back in an annoyed tone, looking none too pleased with his comments based on her crossed arms. "What's the point in telling us this? They attempted to invade the planet, of course this means war."

"What he means is that the Alliance is going to get involved." Greg answered for him, looking down at the woman. "What that also means is that the Alliance will have to formally announce their partnership with the Migrant Fleet."

He was right, and I hated him for it. In order to help the Quarians better attack Cerberus, they would have to begin corroborating intel on a much bigger level. That meant involving even more people, getting military allies into the mix, and so on. This attack meant the end of the partnership on a discreet level.

This fact actually terrified me. Open conflict with Cerberus meant the other races would take notice of us. They'd eventually find out where we live.

I barely managed to keep myself from speaking out as the cycle ended, opening the outer door and revealing the cradle. From that point on, we stayed completely quiet as we walked to the atrium. Even the mood in the _Rayya_ was quiet a subdued, as much as it could be after what had happened.

The rest of my group stood near the back as I walked up towards the front. All the Captains involved in the attack were here, front line and center. All of us would be giving in-person reports to the Admirals in front of the Conclave before actual discussion occurred. It was standard operating procedure for events such as this.

"This Conclave is brought to order." Raan began, looking down at us from the top of the podium like she always did. "Blessed are the ancestors who kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai." We all replied, bowing out heads for a few moments before looking back up.

"As you already know, Cerberus attempted several hours ago to invade our system." Gerrel spoke, attracting all of our eyes. "We've convened to discuss this unprovoked attack and debate what actions we should take in the future."

For about twenty minutes, the Admirals went Captain-to-Captain getting a report on each one's vessel. They all spoke for several minutes, going over damages, losses, and other statistics as the rest of the Conclave watched and listened. My initial assessment held up.

Cerberus had launched a multi-pronged attack on the system with several objectives. Their first goal was to allow their frigates and cruisers to clear a path by knocking out ODP _Cairo_ and the surrounding Defense Flotilla to clear the way for their carriers. Once they were clear, they would launch a swarm of aircraft that would descend on the planet with the goals of attacking our mining and military facilities. This was all being led by an old associate of ours, former Alliance Admiral Catherine Parangosky.

The first part of their plan failed outright. They weren't prepared for the MES system and how well it deflected damage, thus they were unable to cause any harm to the station. Before Parangosky could call off the second wave of the attack and retreat, her two carriers jumped into the system and unleashed their spacecraft prematurely.

It was a slaughter. The _Cairo_ knocked out both carriers before they could react, using low-power shots to disable them instead of outright destroying them under orders from Han'Gerrel. The rest of the Cerberus fleet suffered heavy losses as the brunt of the Orbital Defense Flotilla unleashed a wave of retaliatory fire they weren't prepared for. Out of the forty or so vessels that Parangosky jumped into the system with, only a dozen managed to escape from the system. It was still undetermined if the Admiral had escaped, died, or was out there floating in one of the dozens of escape pods that had yet to be retrieved.

As for the smaller crafts released by the carriers, over two-thirds of the vessels were destroyed by the Fleet's GUARDAN arrays and point-defense guns before even entering the atmosphere. What we saw down here on the surface was only a fraction of what was originally intended by those Cerberus bastards.

Those that did make it through were ordered by Parangosky to focus on Camp Dolor and CASTLE Base with the aim of getting something out of this failed operation, but between us thinning out the shuttles in the air with the Cobra and Dan knocking out anything that survived with the Dragoon, the entire attack had ended in less than an hour.

After going through all of the Orbital Defense Flotilla, they came to me.

"Captain Michaels, what is the status of CASTLE Base?" Gerrel asked, looking me right in the eyes through my opaque faceplate.

I held my tongue for a few moments before speaking up, using every ounce of self-control I had to keep from lashing out at him in front of everyone.

"Sir, CASTLE Base sustained significant levels of damage during the attack." I began, clasping my hands behind my back. "Their initial wave took out our ground-based air defenses and cleared the way for troop transports. We managed to get one of our experimental Cobra gunships into the air after the first wave, taking down several of the shuttles before they could land. Our forces on the ground suffered many casualties before my colleague Dr. Nemo commandeered the Dragoon prototype, turning the tide of the battle in our favor. All in all, sir, we suffered over two dozen casualties and over fifty wounded in both CASTLE and Dolor. No estimate on the cost of damages yet, though it's projected to be in the millions in terms of Citadel Standard."

"Were you able to discern what exactly they were looking for, Captain?" Koris asked, putting both hands against the railing.

"Right now, our best guess is that they wanted to do a sweep-and-retrieve, steal any of our research data that wasn't locked down and get out before the Fleet could bring in reinforcements." I answered, taking a deep breath between statements. "After their carriers were taken out in space and their gunships were knocked out of the sky, they scattered and attempted to flee into the woods surrounding the two installations. We've caught all the stragglers as far as we can tell, though we still have teams moving through the forests to make sure."

"Very good. Thank you Captain." Gerrel thanked as they all looked to one another.

Before they could say anything else, something happened that I didn't expect. Gregory walked up to the Admirals with meaning to his stride, standing next to me as everyone turned to look at him. He then projected a live hologram of Admiral Hackett in the center of the room, the scan lines clearly seen from noise in the connection.

"Admiral Hackett, welcome." Raan greeted with zero surprise in her voice as she stood up straighter.

"_I just received the news through the data stream. I wanted to express my utmost sympathy for those who didn't survive the attack_." He said, bowing his head just slightly before going on.

"It would have been far worse if you hadn't warned us." Zadie replied, waving her hand.

"I still believed we could have handled it ourselves." Rael muttered under his breath, barely audible if it weren't for the enhanced hearing my mask offered.

"_I realized this attack would have repercussions on both of our sides no matter what action we took_." Hackett mused, giving a snide glare to Rael before turning around to look at the Conclave. "_Regardless, we must come to an understanding regarding our common enemy. Going into open conflict with Cerberus will not go unnoticed by the rest of the galactic community, and threatens to weaken our forces on both sides if fought alone._"

"You're proposing we join forces." Zadie guessed as Hackett nodded to her and smiled.

"Hm… if we combine our fighting forces together, we can better focus our resources and protect our supply lines." Koris commented, putting his fingers together. "I'm open to this idea."

"Don't be preposterous!" Rael objected, slamming his fist against the railing. "We've managed to maintain ourselves for decades, and now we're just going to give it up?!"

"_We're not asking you to give anything up, Admiral Zorah._" Hackett reassured, now focusing exclusively on him. "_We're not asking the quarian people to lay down their lives and ships in service to the Alliance. Both of our sides would be taking an equal measure of action here_."

Rael then looked over at Raan and Gerrel, vying for support.

"You two can't possibly be considering this!" He said, sounding as if he had been shoved into a corner as the two of them stood there in silence for a few more moments.

"I apologize, Rael, but I don't see any significant flaws with this proposal." Gerrel replied, genuinely surprising me.

"The logistics alone will be a complete nightmare, but other than that I see no reason why this can't work." Zadie chimed in, rubbing the underside of her helmet.

"I can't believe this." Rael remarked, sounding defeated.

"We will need more time to discuss this, Admiral." Raan said, looking harder at Rael for a second before looking back to Hackett. "We will invite you back once we have come to a full decision."

"_Very well. Goodbye, Admirals_." He agreed, turning to face me and Greg before cutting the transmission.

This was going to be a long Conclave.

…

I sat quietly on the edge of my bed, staring at the empty picture frame on top of my dresser. The glass containing it was cracked, barely holding together. The window to the outside was black with soot and ash, barely suitable for use.

I walked over to it, pressing my hands and the tip of my nose against it. Outside was a wasteland, a veritable hellscape of fire and death. Corpses of various races littered the ground, slowly buried in ash that fell from the sky like snow.

I slowly made my way to the door, seeing a lone crib in the middle of the room. The walls were red, running with blood. The window across from me shined a solid beam of light into the crib, from where I heard a baby crying. I ran over to check on the baby, only to find nothing was there.

I looked up as a loud klaxon-like blare deafened me, seeing a Reaper falling towards me. I threw up my arms in a futile attempt to shield myself, only for everything to go black.

The last thing I heard was a woman's voice, whispering The Lord's Prayer to me as I lost all feeling in my body.

"Our Father, who art in heaven,  
hallowed be thy Name,  
thy kingdom come,  
thy will be done,  
on earth as it is in heaven.  
Give us this day our daily bread.  
And forgive us our trespasses,  
as we forgive those  
who trespass against us.  
And lead us not into temptation,  
but deliver us from evil."

"Amen."

…

MSV _Explorer_, August 13th, 8:17 AM, 2184

…

I opened my eyes slowly, feeling my chest beating faster than normal. I saw Mara sitting across from me, reading something on a datapad as she sipped from a bag of water.

Before I said anything, I tried as hard as possible to retain as much of my dream as possible. Most of it was already gone, but there was one thing I could remember.

My mother's voice.

I let out a sigh, leaning up in my bunkbed as I rubbed my forehead.

"Oh, you're finally up." Mara said, putting the datapad down. "I was just about to wake you myself. The Conclave is resuming at nine 'o'clock sharp."

"Ugh... thanks hon." I replied, making sure to rub the rheum out of my eyes. "Anything happen overnight?"

"Yes, actually." She answered, looking at the camera mounted on the ceiling. "Lydia, would you like to tell him the good news?"

"Sure." She agreed, her image appearing on the nearby console. "Last night, the salvage teams recovered over fifty lifepods. Most had either failed or were empty, but twenty-one of them contained survivors."

"Guess who one of the survivors is?" Mara inquired, immediately jogging my memory.

"Parangosky." I guessed, getting a nod from the two women.

"Greg is already talking with the Admirals about the development." Lydia added, folding her arms. "He is attempting to persuade them to allow her to be transported to the Alliance so she can answer for her crimes, but they also want her for interrogation. It's a mess."

"When isn't it a mess?" I mused, shaking my head as I stood up and threw my light coat on. "Let Greg know I'm coming over early. I have as much of a stake in this as he does."

As I walked out of the barracks and into the crew deck, there was only one thing I could consistently remember.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." I repeated to myself over and over again as I grabbed my mask and prepared to go back into the _Rayya_.

I felt like a sheep, surrounded by wolves.

…

**A/N: I once again apologize to everyone for the length of time it's been taking for these chapters to come out. This semester has been incredibly punishing, and I've had very little time to focus on my writing. I wish I had more time, but life just keeps on disagreeing with me.**

**I tried to keep things simple in this chapter with the aim of leaving the reader guessing as to what's going to happen in the future. Things seem to be ramping up, and our friends still don't see who they'll be fitting into it. It's a tough position to be in, and it'll never get easier.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	34. Proclamation

…

"He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command."

(Niccolò Machiavelli)

…

MFV _Rayya_, August 13th, 9:49 AM, 2184

…

I arched my head backwards, taking a seat near the rear of the atrium bleachers with Greg. We were both already exhausted from arguing with the Admirals for nearly an hour in regards to securing the rights to transport Catherine Parangosky back to the Alliance for trial. Greg was pushing for it very aggressively, so much in fact that I thought he would begin yelling at them. On the other hand, the Admirals wanted her, likely for information on Cerberus and as leverage against the Alliance.

I had little doubt that the only way any decision would be made was by getting Hackett to directly speak with them.

"So, what was it like?" Greg asked out of the blue, as I relaxed my shoulder to look back at him.

"What was what like?" I said, unable to discern what exactly he was talking about.

"Living in the Fleet for over a year." He clarified, hands folded behind his head as she stared up at the ceiling of the Atrium. "I've never spent much time on ships, I was normally part of ground detachments. So I was curious."

"Hm, what is there to say? No sky, no trees, and no animals. Nothing but metal and recycled air." I mused, moving closer to him. "After a few months, you really start to feel the claustrophobia, get a little stir crazy. I honestly don't know if we could have kept it up if we hadn't found Reach."

"I don't understand how they do it." He replied, eyes still focused on the ceiling. "Living on starships all your lives, spending everyday keeping your aging ship from falling apart… the quarians really are something."

"Heh, I can't argue with you there." I agreed, looking down at the bickering Conclave. "They're not the easiest lot to get along with, but if you gain their trust you can't ask for better people to watch your back."

"_Well... most of the time._" I thought to myself, electing to keep my mouth shut on my current grievances with the Admiralty Board.

"Ambassador Buckell? Can you please join us for a minute?" Raan called over to him, cutting off our conversation.

"Duty calls." He said in a quickened tone, giving me a quick tap to the arm and running back down to the discussion.

I continued to listen to the conversation with lackluster interest, losing track of it several times as my mind drifted off to other things.

I began thinking about Parangosky. I remembered that even back on Aldrin she was a spook, never at all interested in what we were doing unless it suited her own ends. Treating it as a mere annoyance to her dad-to-day. I had no doubt she had likely been part of one of the Alliance's intelligence divisions. There was no way someone with her kind of disposition wasn't involved with that crowd in some way.

I remember the stories that went around Aldrin Station regarding them back when there still was an Aldrin Station. Stories about clandestine missions deep into restricted territory, stealing tech and assassinating potential threats to the Systems Alliance. It all sounded like something from a Tom Clancy novel, but there was never any way to tell if it was true or not.

Hell, to them we were probably just a bunch of eggheads with overinflated budgets and egos.

Seeing that Hackett had returned to the conversation via Greg's omni-tool, I walked back down into the crowd of Captains that were gathered around the podium.

"_Is all of this correct_?" Hackett asked in a confused tone, looking up from his datapad. "_I understand you want information, but this woman stole over two million tons of raw Element Zero from one of our shipyards along with two Geneva-class cruisers. She's the most wanted individual in the Alliance at this time, and you honestly expect us to just sit on the sidelines?_"

"If you want Parangosky for yourselves, you have to promise us two things Admiral." Gerrel stonewalled, standing confidently at his position on the podium. "One, that you agree to share with us any and all information regarding Cerberus after your investigation. Two, that you share with us more data on this… Reaper killed at The Battle of the Citadel."

That last one shocked me more than it really should have. I knew the Admirals were still interested in that thing, but to directly ask Hackett about it really seemed to shed light on how far that interest went.

"_Getting you information is fine by my standards, just don't expect it all at once._" Hackett agreed, but with notable resistance in his voice. "_A lot of this attached to our task forces, and will need to be reviewed before being sent over._"

"That is satisfactory." Rael agreed, nodding his head.

"What will we do about the Council?" Koris inquired, tapping on the railing with his right hand. "Will we wait for them to find out about our coalition, or will we outright tell them in advance?"

"_I've been pondering that myself. Either way, it's going to be quite the shock to them_." Hackett replied, taking in a deep breath as he threw his hands back behind his back as he looked at Greg. "_Gregory, what do you think we should do?_"

"Well, I think it would be better to come to them and tell them outright." He answered, shifting his footing as everyone else turned to him. "The longer we wait; the more time Cerberus has to expand their range of influence. No matter how the Council reacts, we'll still have our seat and they'll expand their surveillance over our regions as a precaution."

"_You think their expanded coverage will help detect Cerberus activities_." Hackett picked up, letting a serious smile cross his scarred face. "_I like the way you think, son_."

"Thank you, sir." He thanked, nodding to him as he looked quickly at the Admirals. "With Captain Anderson on the Council, we'll be able to get near-instant status reports regarding all Citadel intel taken of both the Alliance and the Migrant Fleet. We can use frequent markers of Cerberus activity to flag down potential leads, making the process go even faster."

"Isn't that a dangerous move?" Raan inquired, taking a step forward and pushing both hands against the railing. "If they begin monitoring the star clusters near our system, it'll make deployments harder to do in secret."

"Not necessarily." Zadie countered much to my surprise, looking up at her. "Bypassing the nearby star clusters could easily be done by mapping out jump points that outright avoid the Relay network."

"But doesn't that present a risk to navigation?" Rael asked, sounding less confrontational and more curious which I found odd. "None of these spaces have been explored by manned spacecraft before."

"That's why we have the scout flotilla." Koris immediately rebutted, one arm crossed as he raised the other into the air slightly. "We outfitted them to search for habitable systems. There's no reason why they can't begin mapping out new paths that take advantage of the flexibility the Gravity Drive."

"_This can also open up safer trade routes and supply lines between us._" Hackett agreed, letting his smile grow even larger before it went away suddenly. He then looked to me. "_Dr. Michaels, how long do you think it would take the Council to begin reproducing the jump drives once word gets out about it?_"

"Well, my best guess would be around two or three years, give or take." I estimated, rubbing my neck as I kicked my brain into gear. "The Salarians, being the tech-hungry little bastards they are could have it as soon as a year after we go public depending on how well we safeguard everything. The Asari will eventually follow suit a few months later, claiming they built it first before the Turians get it. After that, we can expect to see the rest of the races get their hands on it within a year or two. By that point, it'll start to become standard across the galaxy, removing our strategic advantage."

"_So, two to three years… not a lot of time, but enough to keep them on their toes._" He responded, holding his hand up to his chin in thought.

"What about the plasma weapons?" Gerrel asked, causing me to flip around to face him.

"The plasma weapons will take a lot longer to reproduce as long as we make sure no one gets their hands on one for reverse-engineering." I went on, making sure to keep my posture at full attention. "At the most, it'll take them about a year and a half to figure it out after producing a working Nemo-Michaels Reactor. From there, there's no telling what they could come up with, and how quickly."

"So we should be saving our plasma capability for major missions to reduce the chances of it being revealed to early." Rael correctly guessed, as I nodded to him in confirmation.

"_Sounds good. We're still reserving our rifles for specific operations, so as long as we keep it to a minimum we should be fine._" Hackett finished, looking back to Greg. "_There's still the issue of who to send to see the Council._"

"I can go, sir." Greg immediately volunteered without hesitation, standing at attention. "I'd love to have the chance to see the looks on their faces when they hear about this."

"_I understand the feeling, but it can't just be you, son. The Council isn't going to take one man seriously._" Hackett denied, waving his hand dismissively. "_What we need to do is put together a diplomatic mission, a group of individuals who can show the Council we mean business_."

"How can they not take the Alliance seriously after you saved their asses?" I blurted out, unable to keep my thoughts in my head.

"_You'd be surprised at how easily they forget things_." Hackett mused, pursing his lips for a second before looking back to Greg. "_Gregory, I'll assign you the responsibility of building a group with the Admirals. Once you've chosen who you want, I'll get you access and let you know when the talks begin_."

"We'll take care of transportation, Admiral Hackett." Raan finished, giving him as nod as the connection went dead and his hologram disappeared.

"Jeez, this just keeps getting better and better…" I sighed, scratching the back of my head.

…

For the last hour, there had been a long debate regarding who would go with Greg on this trip to see the Citadel Council. We decided on a fairly large group of a dozen people, not including security detail. Friends of mine in the Conclave, Captains Ysin'Mal and Teera'Soren were picked to come, along with less favorable characters such as Daro'Xen. Admiral Raan would be with us representing the will of the Admiralty Board.

There was only one thing about all of this I didn't like. They wanted me to come. Not only that, but they wanted to use my ship as well due to the advanced stealth tech we had installed on it.

I was absolutely livid.

I sat in the back of the mess hall with a cup of coffee, staring at a cooling unit on the wall as I let my thoughts run wild.

I hadn't left Reach in a long time, and had no desire to do so. We were all happy here, secluded in our own system behind the might of the Migrant Fleet. The idea of leaving it all behind for any period of time left a terrible feeling in my gut.

I saw Greg come out of the elevator, hands in his coat pockets as he walked over to me. He didn't say a word as he sat down next to me, back firmly planted against the wall. This silence lasted a few more second before he spoke up.

"What are you staring at? He asked, trying to connect the direction I was facing with an object.

"I don't know." I replied, looking over at him.

"Listen, I did my best by they just won't relent." He tried to comfort, only succeeding in mildly annoying me. "It's not that bad, it'll only be a day or two."

"That's easy for you to say. You don't have an entire terrorist organization after you." I rebutted, shaking my head as I picked up my cold coffee and downed it all in one long gulp.

"It's alright, we're putting together a good security team, and Anderson will make sure nothing happens." He reassured as I took in a deep breath. "You have my word nothing will happen."

I simply shook my head, standing up and looking back down at him.

"I wish I had your confidence." I finished, pulling him up. "My team will leave on a shuttle in ten minutes. As soon as they're gone, everyone can board."

"Understood." He acknowledged with a nod, giving me a quick pat on the shoulder before walking back off.

I made my way back over to the barracks, where everyone was picking up their stuff to make sure nothing was left behind.

"Sean, I'm sorry." Mara apologized, giving me a tight hug as everyone began to walk out of the room.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, this is simply how things are going to happen. Keep your head down." I said with obvious resignation in my voice as I looked down at her belly. "And you, you'd better wait until I get back."

That caused her to laugh, getting me to at least smile.

"Maybe you can g-grab me a souvenir while yo…you're there." Dan suggested, actually getting me to chuckle slightly.

"I don't know. Feeling lucky?" I replied as we shook hands quickly, testing each other's squeeze strength.

"Good luck, my friend." Dimitri said, throwing his arms around me as he gave me a bear hug. "Don't get into trouble."

"I'll see all of you when we get back." I finished as they began walking off, gathering into the elevator as the doors closed behind them.

I stood there in silence for a few moments, thinking about my wife before looking up at the nearby security camera.

"You better make sure you behave yourself once we're there." I said to the camera, directly addressing Lydia, who had refused to leave with Richard. "If you fuck something up, it'll be all our asses."

"Aw, quit being such a drama queen. I'll be fine." She replied, appearing in the center of the mess hall above the table. "Besides, I've always wanted to see the Citadel in person."

"You really haven't changed at all, have you? You really are a cat reincarnate." I remarked, shaking my head at the thought of it all. "Anyways, you'll be in charge of making sure nothing weird happens with the stealth systems during transit, and monitoring communication traffic once we're actually there. If anything at all doesn't seem right, you message me and let me know."

"Got it." She agreed, fading from my view as the hologram of the Saturn V returned.

I could only hope no one would do anything dumb during this trip. This was my ship, after all.

…

MFV _Explorer_, August 14th, 11:11 AM, 2184

…

"Lenlo, how's the stealth system holding up?" I asked, pacing back and forth with a cup of coffee as I watched over all the bridge consoles.

"Heat sinks are at 38% capacity, and cloak is measuring at 98% effective wavelength." He answered, looking back at me. "All systems nominal."

"You feeling better after the other day, sir?" Kirva asked from the navigation console, causing me to flip around and face her.

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that." I replied in a half-dodge, scratching the back of my neck as I looked over at her console.

We were currently in transit from the Horse Head Nebula to the Annos Basin. Once we were there, it was only an hour and a half between there and the Serpent Nebula. So far, we had only stopped twice to radiate our stored heat from the stealth systems, once in the Caleston Rift and once in the Argos Rho Cluster.

"Keep me up to date on all system reports until we've reached our destination." I finished, walking out of the bridge and into the CIC.

Here, I found Captains Mal and Soren looking at the galaxy map in the center of the room, occasionally talking between themselves.

"Hey there, Michaels!" Mal greeted with enthusiasm, giving me a handshake the moment I was within range.

"Morning, Captain Michaels." Soren said right afterwards, still focused on the map.

"What are you two up to?" I asked, leaning against the railing.

"We were just discussing the Klenot system and a few other things." Soren answered, looking to me. "You run a nice ship here, Michaels. Despite everything it's been through, it still doesn't look a day old."

"I appreciate it. We've always work hard to keep the old girl in tip-top form." I remarked, rubbing the console next to me as I looked back to Mal. "I forget to ask earlier, how are Hendel and Gillian doing?"

"Oh, they're doing fine." Mal went on, sounding strangely proud of them. "Hendel was a great addition to our security, helping use his experience in the Alliance to better train my men, and Gillian has become increasingly better at handling both her emotions and her biotics."

"That's good to hear. I've really got to visit them again one of these days." I finished, looking back at the hologram of the Milky Way.

"Can you believe we haven't even seen a single percentile of what the galaxy has to offer out there?" Soren mused, looking to both me and Mal. "There are still countless worlds out there waiting to be discovered. Limitless opportunities."

"That's true. Thanks to your old friend, we were the first to begin exploring these previously out-of-reach worlds, Michaels." Mal added, giving me a good pat on the back. "We just have to make sure we find them and claim them before everyone else gets their hands on the drive tech."

I nodded silently, thinking back to that day when the _Explorer_ went on its first shakedown run. I never really did grasp the true magnitude of what we had accomplished that day until we had gifted our tech to the quarian people. Seeing what it was capable of, witnessing all the doors it opened to them… it was beyond admirable.

It also made me progressively angrier at the Council, and the Citadel government in general. I understood why they had done what they did, the creation of A.I. was indeed incredibly illegal and had repercussions all these years later, but was that any excuse to leave the quarian people to slowly wither away over the course of two centuries? I didn't think so. After so many generations of quarians had come and gone, the banishment bestowed upon them had become the equivalent of original sin.

I had noticed this type of extreme action had become a recurring trait for the Citadel Council. The Asari, with their long lifespans, were incapable of forgiving past grievances. For them, 200 years was nothing but a drop in the bucket. The Salarians on the other hand usually didn't live for more than 40 years. This allowed them to simply brush away the actions of their predecessors with little regard for what effect it had. The Turians, being the hyper-imperialist blowhards they are could care less about what happened to a race that wasn't under their banner, seeking only to expand their interests across the Traverse.

I honestly couldn't understand why people listened to them.

Humanity had been the exception, at least most of the time. We had good people and bad people, but there were always those among us who were willing to help those in need. Hackett, Gregory, and my friends and I were all examples of what humanity was truly capable of. Forgiveness, the willingness to extend an olive branch. It just seemed to be one of those things we were good at.

It also made me realize why I was going with them on this diplomatic mission.

Greg and I were to be in-person examples of human-quarian solidarity, one that the Council would be forced to take seriously. There was no way they would be able to brush off the quarians knowing that not only did they now have their own star system, growing economy, and one of the most technologically-advanced militaries in the Milky Way galaxy, but that they were also allied with a Council race of equal military might.

It was us spitting in the faces of the Council, forcing them to learn the hard way that they had made a terrible mistake. You can't beat down on individuals and expect them to take it forever. The more you beat a man, the taller he stands.

It made me smile, now understanding the full scope of this trip.

Now this was something I wanted to be part of.

…

MFV _Explorer_, August 14th, 12:43 PM, 2184

…

I sat calmly in my Captain's chair as we neared the Citadel, Raan pacing back and forth behind me as we waited to clear the nebula. I was now excited by this point, looking forward to seeing this through.

"Kirva, we almost through?" I asked, tapping on the armrest of my chair repetitively.

"We should be clearing the nebula any second now…" She replied, focusing on the monitor in front of her. "There it is!"

As she announced it, the view in front of us opened up, revealing the Citadel. The five arms looked like orange, glowing flower pedals as the station slowly turned. I let myself gawk in awe at it, eyes wide open as I took in the sheer size of it. Greg looked over at me from the communication console, knowing what I was feeling.

"Citadel Control, this is MSV _Explorer_, requesting permission to land." Greg announced over the comm, making sure we were using the dual frequency given to us by Hackett.

"_Standby for clearance_." Came the swift response from the traffic controllers, pausing before coming back. "_Clearance granted, transferring you to an Alliance operator_."

"An Alliance operator?" I questioned, mildly confused.

"Hackett got us permission to use the Alliance docking facilities." Greg explained, looking back at me for a few seconds. "Obviously he didn't want us to dock in a public sector."

"Makes sense." I agreed, crossing my legs as I went back to admiring the view.

"_Explorer, this is Alliance tower, please proceed to dock 3-12._" The new operator finished, cutting off as we neared the edge of the Presidium ring, slowing and coming to a stop inside an internal docking area with its own self-contained atmosphere.

"The Eagle has landed." I remarked, letting myself chuckle and smile as I stood up from the chair. "Lenlo, as usual, you're in charge until we get back. Keep everything locked down, and forward anything important to my omni-tool. No one comes or goes without my say so."

"Yes sir" He confirmed, saluting as I walked over to him.

"Also, make sure Biss doesn't do any of his experiments while we're out here. I don't need any problems with the power grid while we're this far from home." I whispered, nodding to him as I gave him a quick, reassuring tap on the shoulder. "Alright Greg, you're in charge from this point on."

"Sounds good." He agreed as we both looked at Raan. "Is everyone ready, Admiral?"

"As ready as we can be for an occasion such as this." She answered with a hint of excitement in her voice as we walked back into the CIC where the other nine Captains and our six-man Marine detail were waiting. We all gathered into the airlock, barely able to fit all of us as we prepared to leave the relative safety of the _Explorer_.

"_I've already got a wedge into the Citadel's primary communication grid. Nothing looks to be out of the ordinary as far as I can tell._" Lydia spoke into my earpiece as I looked up at the camera in the corner. "_It looks like C-Sec has a security team waiting for you outside on the docks._"

I nodded to the camera, knowing I couldn't say anything in here as the decon cycle ended, revealing the walkway that led to the docks. We all followed Greg and Raan in order, and sure enough C-Sec was there waiting for us.

"Gregory Buckell?" The man in charge, a human sergeant, questioned with his hands behind his back. He was flanked by four armored officers in standard police gear, one human, two turian, and one asari.

"Can I help you, sergeant?" He responded, looking very confused. "I wasn't aware there was going to be a welcoming committee."

"I'm afraid it isn't." The sergeant replied in a tired, almost annoyed tone. "I've been ordered to have you all screened for weapons and foreign devices before we take you to see the Council."

"That's ridiculous, we never agreed to this." Raan objected, crossing her arms.

"It's standard procedure, ma'am." He said, taking in a deep sigh. "I can't let anyone proceed until we've determined everyone is clean."

"How can we get any cleaner? We spend all of our time in the Fleet." I mocked, actually getting Greg and a couple of the other Captains to laugh.

"Fine, we'll go through screening." Greg agreed, still not sounding entirely happy with the situation. "It's not like we have anything to hide anyways."

I turned around, looking at two of the six Marines that had accompanied us.

"You two, stay here and guard the ship until we get back." I ordered, receiving two acknowledging salutes from the men as we began walking.

We all piled into the large elevator, heading all the way up to C-Sec headquarters.

It was strange being back here in the Citadel after all of these years. It was uncanny, and in a very odd way. I had no real connection with the Citadel, it had only served as Dan and I's first portal into the future. But still, being back here brought one major question soaring back to my mind.

Why, of all possible places, did we end up on the Citadel? It was statistical near-impossibility that we'd end up in such a specific location out of sheer luck. It wasn't even a 1% chance; it was along the lines of googolplex units in terms of how many zeros that single percentile had. We had a better chance of ending up in the core of a star than on the Citadel.

This had been a question I was unable to answer, no matter how much math I brute-forced into it.

I refocused myself as we finally reached C-Sec headquarters, seeing the massive amount of activity occurring here. There must have been hundreds of people moving around the place performing various tasks and jobs. It was too much for me to even pick out a single spot to focus on. It was like a convention center.

"Follow me." The sergeant urged as we all moved out of the elevator into the main lobby.

I could feel the eyes following us as we walked, knowing full well that this must have been an unusual sight. The quarians had been the subject of many, many theories since we relocated the entire Migrant Fleet to the Klenot system, and seeing two humans with them much have fueled the questions forming in their heads.

It made me wish I could read minds. It would be ceaseless entertainment to hear all the zany conspiracy theories they had.

We were led into a section off of the main lobby filled with offices, "interview" rooms, and lots of storage. The last one on the end of the hall had a full-body scanner.

"We'd like to ask that you hand over all weapons, bio-amps, and military equipment until you're ready to leave." The sergeant ordered, standing next to the turian scanner operator. "It will all be returned to you untouched once your buissness in the Presidium has concluded."

"Then one at a time, each of you will walk slowly through the scanner while I monitor the readings." The turian officer added, clutching a datapad with both hands. "The process should only take a few minutes."

I shook my head in disappointment, pulling my Carnifex out of my shoulder holster and placing it into the bin as a few of the Captains and our Marine detail did the same. The bin then slid through the scanner, showing a green light as it crossed through the other side.

The scanning process for everyone went off without a hitch until they got to me.

"Hold up!" The turian said out loud, causing me to stop in my tracks. "I'm detecting some kind of cobalt-chrome compound coming from inside his head."

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely confused as the sergeant walked over to the operator's terminal.

"What's that inside your mouth?" The sergeant asked, now seeming as confused as the turian.

"What, these?" I asked, pulling open one side of my mouth so they could see my molars. "Those are metal fillings. I had two bad teeth when I was a kid."

"Strange. I didn't even know metal fillings were still a thing." The sergeant commented, a quizzical look on his face. "Never mind. Let him through, he's clean."

From there, we all hopped back into the elevator and shot up towards the Presidium. Even though no one up there was supposed to have weapons, I still felt incredibly uncomfortable without my sidearm. The Marines looked about as anxious as me having lost their weapons.

Nothing could have prepared me to see the Presidium, though.

It was magnificent, single handedly one of the most awe-inspiring sights I had ever witnessed. There was greenery, luxury shops, a massive lake, and the artificial sky… all of us were seeing this for the first time, and we couldn't help but gawk like a bunch of tourists.

The people here took notice of us as well, much like those in the C-Sec lobby had done. They watched our group move through in silence, though their faces betrayed their thoughts. Most of them looked annoyed, distrusting, and outwardly confused.

Alas, the chance to stare at it all would have to wait. We walked over to the Citadel Tower lift, hopping in for one last elevator ride before we finally met the Council. I watched the Wards glitter in the distance as we traveled the length of the tower, seeing certain parts of one of the Wards shrouded in darkness.

I assumed a lot of damage had occurred there during the Reaper attack. Knowing how these people operated, they were probably still collecting salvage.

"Alright, the Council is ready to see you." The sergeant finished as the elevator reached the Council chamber.

"Thank you very much." Greg finished as we all walked into the chamber, seeing the large fountain right off the bat.

This place was immaculately set up, with gardens, trees, and hidden sniper boxes at the top of the chamber. It didn't take a genius to guess they were tracking us very closely, following our every movement.

We climbed up the stairs, finally coming face to face with the Council. They were all standing there, waiting patiently for us. I already knew who they all were from the Alliance News Network. Tevos was the asari councilor, and Valarn was the salarian one. They both had what looked to be their best neutral expressions on. Sparatus was the turian one, and looked to be barely holding in his contempt based on body language alone.

And of course there was Anderson. He needed no introduction. He stood there with relaxed confidence that put the other three to shame.

"This meeting is now in session." Tevos announced without even a hello as they all tapped their consoles, likely beginning a recording.

"Greetings Councilors." Raan introduced, taking front stage at the front of the platform. "I am Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, here on behalf of the Admiralty Board of the Migrant Fleet. Behind me are Captains representing our civilian Conclave."

"Good to meet your acquaintances, Admiral." Anderson greeted warmly, smiling to us while Sparatus shot daggers at him.

"We had been informed that the Migrant Fleet returned after their mysterious disappearance almost a year ago." Valarn remarked, sounding quite snide as he noticed me and Greg among the Captains. "Who are the two humans among your group?"

"This is Captain Sean'Michaels vas Explorer, representing the head of our scientific development divisions and Gregory Buckell, Systems Alliance ambassador to the quarian people." Raan calmly explained as the body language of the three councilors took an immediate dip in quality.

"What?!" Sparatus blurted out, sounding as if someone had just insulted his mother. "This must be some kind of joke!"

"Admiral, are you telling us that the Systems Alliance and Migrant Fleet are engaged in a diplomatic relationship?" Tevos muttered, sounding dumbfounded as she looked over at Anderson, who couldn't look more pleased unless he allowed himself to smile.

"They say it as if it's a bad thing. Jeez." I whispered to Greg, who allowed a smile to cross his face for a moment.

"That's precisely what I am telling you, Councilor." Raan answered, hands behind her back.

"Anderson, what is going on here?!" Valarn demanded to know as they turned their attention away from us. "Is this true?"

"It is. Since January 19th of this year, we've had open relations with the Migrant Fleet." Anderson explained, already knowing exactly what's been happening. "Recently, we increased the scope of our relationship due to the open hostilities Cerberus has had against both our sides."

"How come we weren't told about this until now?" Tevos asked, beginning to lose her cool in the heat of this sudden influx of information.

"Before Cerberus increased their hostile activities, our relationship had only existed on a strict information-based level." Raan explained, taking some of the heat off of Anderson. "Both of our sides determined that to better combat this threat, creating a coalition was the best solution to a mutual problem."

"If that's the case, then do you care to explain to us how a fleet of over 50,000 ships managed to disappear off of the map?" Sparatus inquired, sounding none too pleased. It was obvious from this sudden shift in topic that he desperately wanted to try and cast suspicion over us. I decided to take the reins from here.

"Oh, that would be my fault." I answered with a smile, taking a step forward with my hands held together behind my back. "The answer to your question is quite simple, Councilor. I, along with a group of other fantastic individuals, created the Reach System. It's a revolutionary jump drive setup that enables FTL travel at speeds rivaling those of Mass Relays. Thanks to us, the entire Migrant Fleet now has access to this incredible new tech, among other advances we've made in the name of science."

"It has given us access to safe new worlds filled with bountiful resources, economic opportunity, and chances to grow as a species." Captain Mal added, pointing at the Councilors. "Above all else, it has given us a chance to ascend from this exile that you have kept us perpetually trapped in for over two centuries."

That really got to them. Both Tevos and Valarn looked like they wanted to vomit by this point, and Sparatus looked like he wanted blood. We had them by the balls.

"It doesn't matter what you think about us, Councilors." Raan said, still sounding just as calm as she did before. "In the end, what happens to us will have little effect on you as a whole. We just wanted you to know that we're no longer the homeless beggars you once thought us to be. Goodbye."

And with that powder keg lit, we all began walking away from the meeting in progress, knowing we had done more than enough damage to last a lifetime. No one tried to stop us, not even the Councilors. Those who had been watching our meeting simply stared in disbelief at us as we walked away.

We had just performed the biggest mic drop in galactic politics. I couldn't wait to begin work in this new political climate.

As far as the Council races were concerned, the quarians were back, and bigger than they had been since they had fled Rannoch all those years ago.

The Council was scared of them, and only now realized what they had created.

…

**A/N: Wow, I was really on a roll with this one, people. I don't know how to explain it; this last week I have just been filled with this sudden burst of energy and I just kept writing and writing and writing. I haven't written this much this quickly in a long time, and I hope you will all enjoyed it!**

**So, the official decision is made and the Council now knows what the quarians have been up to all this time. Now we have to wait and see what happens now that the Alliance and Migrant Fleet are part of a formal coalition. There's going to be hell to pay on Cerberus' end, and it won't be pretty.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	35. Efficacy

…

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my grandfather, who passed away December 22****nd**** at the age of 80. After fighting for over a year, cancer took his life and a big part of our lives with it. He was a kind, loving man who loved doing what he did, and was my main inspiration when it came to science and learning about the world around me. His will be missed by all of us, and the world is lesser with his passing. May he rest in peace.**

…

"Isn't life the greatest fanfiction of all?"

(Undertale)

…

Serenity Valley, August 16th, 8:21 AM, 2184

…

"_Governments throughout Citadel Space are still recoiling from the aftermath of Sunday's meeting between the Citadel Council and members of the quarian Migrant Fleet. The fleet of over 50,000 ships disappeared December of last year in the Pylos Nebula. During the intense meeting, Admiral Shala'Raan announced that they had been engaged in diplomatic relations with the Systems Alliance since January of this year and were planning on forming a joint coalition to combat the pro-human terrorist group Cerberus. When questioned by Councilor Sparatus as to where their fleet had gone, one of the captains in the group, a human known as Captain Sean Michaels, announced that the quarians were now in possession of a new type of jump drive system known as the "Reach System", which supposedly enables faster-than-light travel at speeds comparable to that of Mass Relays. While it has yet to be proven whether or not this jump drive is real, light of this news stocks have gone down in many colonial companies and investors are pulling funding from private explorations in both the Traverse and Terminus. No Council members were available for comment."_

"Well, there you go. You got your fifteen minutes of fame." Mara joked, sitting next to me with a bowl of cereal on the couch as we watched the Alliance News Network.

"I don't know… you think they got my best angle? I joked, receiving a playful shove from Mara in retaliation.

"Yes, but really… do you really think this was the smartest thing to do?" She asked in a farm more serious tone, setting her bowl back onto the table. "Telling everyone about it?"

I stared at the holoscreen for a few seconds, thinking over it before answering her.

"In the end, I think it'll end up yielding more results than if we hadn't." I said with honesty, leaning backwards and allowing myself to relax. "Now that we've got the Council on the political defensive, we've got a solid footing back into the galactic scene. The Alliance will help ease them the quarians back over, and the coalition will help ensure that neither side is as frequently antagonized."

"But what about Cerberus?" She redirected, causing my expression to sour for a few moments until I thought about it a little harder.

"I don't think Cerberus will try anything for a while." I answered, throwing one of my arms over the edge of the couch as I turned to face her. "After that devastating defeat they suffered, they'll be too busy licking their wounds for a while to try anything. Besides, soon they'll be too busy defending themselves to worry about having another go at us."

"I just hope you're right." Mara finished with an unsure look on her face as she looked back at the holoscreen.

I stared at her for a few seconds before putting my arm around her and giving her a light hug.

"I promise everything will turn out just fine." I said, tilting my head and resting it on her shoulder.

Whether or not I actually believed those words coming from myself was of little consequence. It was my responsibility to make sure they were true.

If anything happened to her, my child, or my friends, I'd cease to have a reason to be this world. I wouldn't be able to handle losing everything a third time.

…

CASTLE Base, August 26th, 12:21 PM, 2184

…

I leaned back in my office chair, throwing my fingers around in the air to get the tension out of them. I opened my omni-tool, putting on Thelma Houston's "_Don't Leave Me This Way_" as a healthy distraction. I had just finished writing the last two damage reports, having spent about an hour making sure they were packed with as much info as humanly possible. If I wanted to get things back to speed on the projects, I needed to make sure all the damage around the base was reported properly and fixed in a timely manner.

We hadn't been given authorization to resume surface operations yet, so it had given me more time to sift through the archive data on Sublevel 12. We were still making little progress with it unfortunately. We did manage to unlock another section inside the structure, but all it did was give us more info on the planets in our system. None of it really stood out to me, but I did save a copy of it for Biss to take a look at later. I knew it would interest him.

"God, this shit never ends…" I said out loud to myself, tenting my fingers as I raised them above my head and stretched. Several pops rang out in response as I sighed in relief.

I then delved into my inbox, seeing what new messages I had.

The one that immediately stood out was from Richard, marked as "Priority". I opened it up, taking a sip from my coffee cup as I began reading.

"_Dear Sean, _

_I know you're busy, so I decided to send you a message instead of running into your office and annoying you. I hope you understand. Lately, Powell and I finished building a successful new suit for the quarians. The upgrades that we created can be added to existing suits with an 89% success ratio in regards to compatibility, though this is only a rough estimate and depends on suit age, damage, and current modifications. I'd recommend that these new suits be issued on an "occupational hazard" level, with the Migrant Fleet marines ideally being the first to receive them._

_That's only half of what I wanted to mention though. Throughout the process of developing this suit, the two of us determined that we've reached the limits of what the suit itself can to do protect the wearer. What I'm suggesting we do may sound radical at first, but just hear me out. We've begun developing a cybernetic implant that, theoretically, can be used to reinforce the quarian immune system through the process of brute-forcing protein syntheses that are involved in the creation of white blood cells. This will force their immune system into an adaptive state, where antigenic material can be introduced and increase immunity over time without endangering the user. This can be adapted to certain planetary atmospheres if need be, and can help prevent most common illnesses the quarians suffer from aboard the Migrant Fleet. It won't be able to outright "cure" their immunity problems in its current form, but it can help lower the severity of these infections, thus preventing deaths from exposure._

_We've based this implant off the cybernetics given to me by the Geth. These implants have had a near 99% success rate as predicted by the Geth Collective when I first received them, and are highly configurable. We've managed to reproduce a simple example based on them. Now here's the difficult part. Sean, I want your authorization to begin asking for volunteers for this project. I know it's a lot to ask, but I firmly believe that if we can get this to work, it could very well be the most impactful thing we give them in the long run. The worst-case scenario would be total rejection by the recipient's body, but there's only a 2% chance of this happening based on multiple tests I've done. Please, think on it. I don't need an answer straight away._

_-Richard_"

I sat back after finishing his message, running my fingers through my hair.

This had come as a complete shock to me. I had no idea that the two of them had been developing anything like this, and a sudden request like this just made it impact with more force. I took a swig from my cup, sucking it down all at once before letting out a hot burst of coffee breath.

I hopped out of my chair, grabbing my coat as I left my office and began walking to the elevators. I needed to discuss this with them in person.

As soon as I reached the elevator, I ran straight into Daro'Xen. She was the last person I wanted to see around here. I ignored her, punching in Sublevel 3 on the board as crossing my arms as I refused to make eye contact.

"Quite the show you put on during the council meeting, I must admit." She offhandedly remarked as I continued to stare forward. "I didn't think you were capable of keeping your anger in check, especially after killing so many people during that attack."

I felt my left eye twitch as I grew agitated, but still stared forward and held myself straight. She was trying to use my virtues against me, and I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of a response.

"I can't even imagine what it's like, killing members of my own species." She mocked, baiting me based off of what I had told her before. "Must be difficult, especially as a man of science."

"Funny, I didn't see you out there, risking your life to defend the base." I finally broke, glaring daggers at her as I spoke. "Or maybe it's because you're a rat-faced coward who cares more about themselves than their own people."

"Insults mean very little to me, doctor, and your opinions even less." She deflected with a cool tone as the doors opened to Sublevel 3. "I do appreciate the fact that you care so much about my people, though, if that's any little comfort to you and your violent tendencies."

"Fuck yourself, Xen." I exclaimed, giving her the middle finger as the elevator doors closed behind me.

I shook the unpleasant interaction with her out of my mind, determined not to let what she said get to me. I knew she was trying to bait me into a physical confrontation, much like a bully in public school. Luckily, I was better than that.

She was a manipulative little wench, and I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

I stopped at Richard's lab, taking another deep breath before going inside. In one of the corners, the new suit was clearly seen mounted inside of a hermetically-sealed glass case. Closer to the back of the lab, I could barely see Richard and Powell huddled near a fabricator.

"Hey there, guys." I greeted, garnering the attention of both of them as I walked over to them.

"Oh… hello Sean." Richard returned as Powell waved. "I assume you received my message?"

Without saying anything, I walked over to them with my hands in my pocket.

"So, is this it?" I asked, looking into the anaerobic chamber that Richard had his hands inside of as he put his face back into the goggles.

"This is the implant that Richard and I have produced." Powell confirmed, looking from me to the chamber. "It weighs exactly two-hundred milligrams and is fully functional."

The implant was about the size of a postage stamp, and looked to be made out of material similar to Richard's arm. He was focused on the implant, using a small magnified camera to finish his precise work.

"More or less functional." He corrected a few seconds later without looking at me, picking up the implant with a pair of tweezers and placing it inside of a self-sealing static-proof bag. "Just wanted to make sure everything was perfect before I finished up."

"Perfect isn't the word I would use just yet." I remarked in a sterner tone, shooting him and Powell the stink eye. "What has gotten into you two? You do realize that if the Admirals found out you were developing tech like this on the side without reporting on it, it's me who gets all the shit, right?"

Richard then took his hands out of the chamber, removing his goggles before focusing on me.

"Tell me, how much do you actually know about the Geth? I'm not talking about common knowledge, I'm talking about how they're built, how they function." He began, wiping his artificial eye with his clean rag. "See, while the Geth require a specialized conductive fluid to survive, my implants run solely off the electrolytes in my bodily fluids, converting them into energy. The skin itself is little more than synthetic muscle tissue designed and grown to mimic that of my old arm, and the eye is an advanced photoreceptor grafted directly to my optic nerve."

"What are you getting at?" I inquired, crossing my arms as became both confused and slightly more agitated by his dodge of the question.

"What I'm saying is that I'm at the point where I might be able to begin reproducing these kinds of implants." He answered, looking down and flexing his hand. "In all honesty, this immuno implant is more or less a proof of concept. If I can get it to reliably work, I can start work on a host of new possible implants. Replacement limbs, trauma systems, organs, everything you can think of."

"After doing extensive studies on my personal platform, we believe there even exist the slim possibly that we could even produce a _body_ for Dr. Nemo's sister." Powell added, causing me to look to him in shock.

That last one was what really got to me. What Richard was describing sounded like something from Ghost In The Shell, and the possibility of such a thing seemed incredible. Whether or not it was fluff he was using to hype up his latest line of work, he had me hopelessly locked in.

"Alright… I'll approve this." I nodded, taking in a deep sigh as I began processing everything this would entail. "I'll smooth things out with the Admirals, and if anyone starts asking questions just make sure you don't mention its origins. If you're going to be calling up volunteers, I want them to sign a full consent form with nothing left out of it before any testing occurs. Both digital _and _paper."

"Understood." They both nodded as I looked at the implant one last time before walking off. Before leaving the lab, I stopped myself and looked back at them.

"Oh, and one last thing." I said as they both looked at me with minor surprise.

"What's that?" Richard asked as he took off his coat.

"Don't mention anything we discussed to Dan or his sister. It might be wise to get her involved due to her medical experience, but don't mention that particular point." I finished as I popped out of the lab.

I had about a million questions, and knew I had no answers for them. The thought of Richard producing limbs, organs, an even an artificial body was something that had seemingly come out of nowhere, but thinking back on it, I should have expected it for a while.

He had subtly mentioned things related to this for a while now, talking about protein synthesis, tissue generation and flash cloning of vital organs whenever mentioning potential projects. I suppose I had been so busy with other matters that it had simply slipped through the cracks.

I suppose it really didn't matter how he did it in the end. As long as he went through all the proper channels and made sure he received full consent for his tests, I didn't have a problem with it.

I hoped the two of them wouldn't screw this up.

…

CASTLE Base, September 29th, 11:45 AM, 2184

…

"Admiral, I understand your concerns, but this is a pure volunteer venture." I argued over my omni-tool, pacing back and forth in my office. "If Dr. Karpyshyn and Powell can work out any kinks in the implant, it'll help reduce the risk of infection to all those who use it."

"_But are you sure it is really safe, Captain?_" Zadie questioned, sounding very worried. "_I understand wanting to advance new ways to compensate for our weak immune systems, Keelah, even I have looked into it, but is it really wise to push this while we're in the middle of a conflict?_"

"None of the Migrant Fleet Marines are involved Admiral, we've been asking the civilian personnel. Besides, according to these newest test results they provided me with, there only exist a two to four percent chance that the implant will even be rejected, let alone cause complications." I countered, reading off of the papers in my other hand. "The only real risky part of the process is the inoculation, and that's no different than getting a flu shot."

"_Maybe for your people._" She redirected, getting a little heated before getting quiet again. "_Listen, I will allow the testing to go on because I do believe Dr. Karpyshyn when he says it will work, but if volunteers start getting gravely sick or if anyone dies from this we will shut it down in a heartbeat. Understood?_"

"Yes, ma'am." I confirmed, nodding my head reflexively as I stopped and put the papers back on my desk.

"_Good. Carry on, Captain._" She finished, cutting off the call as my omni-tool turned off. I took in a deep sigh, thankful that the conversation was now over as I threw on my coat and left the office to go outside. I was late.

Today was the day we would be doing the final tests for the Viper and Python prototypes. After all the delays and troubleshooting tests we've done over the last month and a half, we were finally ready for the real thing. All the safety parameters had been thoroughly tested and accounted for, and by all regards they were perfect. Dan would be piloting his Python, while I'd be doing the same for the Viper.

The test would be about the same as the one we did for the Cobra, though there would be obvious differences. For one, we were completely on our own if something went wrong, unlike with the Cobra test where we had volunteers with us to operate all the ship systems. For this reason, we would both be wearing sealed Extra Vehicular Activity suits equipped with Manned Maneuvering Units during the test, and would be monitored constantly by Dimitri here at Hanger 5.

I walked across the tarmac, taking in the warmer air as the long spring season began rolling into the valley. Winter was almost over, and the near-constant rainfall was plenty evidence of that fact. There had actually been some flooding farther down the valley according to several reports I had received, though we had been smart enough not to build anything down there that close to the lake.

The whole month of September had been both quiet and hectic. I was in near-constantly liaisons between the Admiralty and Hackett, giving them any technical data or advice they asked for. Two joint flotillas had already been formed and were currently scanning elements of the Titan Nebula to see if there was anything left of the Barn that could be used to pinpoint other facilities Cerberus was running. So far, nothing too interesting, but I expected initial progress to be slow. My hope was that soon they'd come across some data that would cause the whole thing to come crashing down, like the end of American Gangster.

The Council was a whole other problem in and of itself. The effect out little trip had on them was starting to slowly wear off as they picked their balls off of the ground and started acting like actual leaders. Like Greg had predicted, they upped their surveillance of Alliance space and the Pylos nebula. I was about 80% sure that they also had SPECTRE agents looking into the technology I had bragged about, looking to secure one of our greatest advantages. It was a massive shitshow seeing them stutter and attempt to explain themselves to the other races how this happened.

Out of all of it, though, there were two things I was really looking forward to this time around. First was Mara and I's soon-to-be-born child. She had passed the 38-week mark in her pregnancy, meaning it could happen any day now. I was gitty in excitement. The second was the building of the Phantom-class stealth frigate and the newly dubbed Desant-class heavy dropship. The Desant-class was simply a gutted and heavily modified Kowloon-class freighter that's primary job will be facilitating transport for the Dragoons. We were at the point where production on the Dragoons was now moving at a steady pace, and we now had a grand total of seven already completed, and two more in production.

I walked into Hanger 4, seeing Dan donned in his full EVA suit, helmet included. It was the same kind of suit we normally used when decontamination wasn't ready for us, but outfitted with a micro-thruster system that utilized compressed air to move us in vacuum. His had been customized with thicker padding and a better insulated layer.

Both the Viper and Python had been painted a fire engine red, a new "standard" I had put in for the prototype test crafts we developed in the future. It had nothing at _all _to do with the fact that I wanted the Viper to look even more like the Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop. Dan obviously didn't believe me.

"Hey." He greeted in a filtered tone, adjusting his cuffs as he stood next to the Python. "The r-room is ready for you. Your suit is…. Is on the bench."

"Thanks man." I nodded, looking up at an absorbed Dimitri one the catwalk above before getting into the locker room.

I quickly stripped down to my essentials, making sure to empty my pockets as I pulled on the EVA suit. It was fairly easy to put it on, slipping on without trouble. I sealed it up, making sure my neckline was open as I threw the helmet over my head and attached my air supply.

The MMU was a simple chest rig that went on like a backpack or harness. Thrusters both on the front and back allowed for careful movement in zero gravity, and a separate tank held compressed air as propellant. The entire thing was a far cry from the bulky MMUs first fielded by Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart in 1984.

Now that I looked like a TIE fighter pilot, I walked back out to the hanger with an increased bounce to my step as I barely held my anticipation in.

"You two almost ready down there?" Dimitri asked, looking down at us as the ground crews disconnected the fuel and power lines in preparation for our launch.

"We're getting there!" I reassured in my distorted voice, climbing up the ladder into the cockpit of the Viper.

The cockpit setup was similar to what you'd find on a standard Alliance fighter, though with obvious differences. Like with the Cobra, it was deliberately designed in a more mechanical fashion, featuring more switches for controlling individual systems for redundancy. Controls were standard fair, a yoke, side-stick and center stick all following the HOTAS system.

The cockpits themselves were an experiment in of themselves. They were round, sphere-shaped compartments with thick, tempered alumino-silicate canopies and dedicated survival systems. If the vehicle the "pods" are connected to were damaged beyond repair and the pilot's life was in imminent danger, they could eject the compartment from the vehicle as an improvised escape pod and utilize limited RCS for movement.

Dan and I had standardized these between both the Viper and Python. Anyone who knew how to pilot one of these crafts would be capable of doing the same with the other with only minor adjustments, helping cut down on the amount of training the pilots required and the need for specialized parts.

The canopy slid over me and sealed as I hooked myself into the seat and made sure my oxygen levels were good. I turned on the craft's computer, hooking up my HUD.

"_Alright, you two already know test parameters, so I will not bother going over them._" Dimitri started over the radio, clearly heard in my left ear. "Look over pre-flight checklists one more time. I don't want surprises during test."

"Understood." We both agreed, looking over each instrument in front of us to confirm one last time that everything was functioning as intended. I hit each box as they appeared on my datapad before folding it up and slipping it back into my rucksack.

"_Good. Sean, I'm connecting you to Fleet Actual. Once you've transmitted your access codes, we can begin_." He finished, filling the line with interference for a moment as the comm channel changed.

"Sounds good." I said to myself as I cleared my throat. "Fleet Actual, this is Captain Michaels, codes Victor Item Peter Easy Rodger... Peter Yoke Tare How Option Nan. Please confirm."

"_Codes accepted, crafts are registered._" The operator on the other end said as my IFF tag on the radar screen flashed green for a few seconds. "_Have a good day, Captain_."

"Thank you, Fleet Actual." I replied with a smile, switching back the channels. "We're good to go, guys."

"_Right then. Begin startup sequences._" Dimitri acknowledged, as I flicked the three ignition switches above me, priming and firing the up the main engine behind me. I could feel the dampened vibrations behind me as I took a deep breath to relax myself.

Our propulsion consisted of high-efficiency plasma engines specially designed to utilize the smallest possible form of the NM reactor possible, the Mk.4 variant, which we had originally developed for the Cobra series. These engines were very powerful considering the types of spacecraft we had mounted them on, and ran the risk of shaking themselves to pieces during the initial testing phase. Dan and I had to install four sets of harmonic balancers and a custom vibration control system to actively combat these issues and make it workable.

We didn't want our engines to end up like those on the ill-fated N1 moon rocket designed by the Soviets. That rocket, unlike the Saturn V developed in the good old U.S of A, used 30 NK-33 rockets in its first stage as opposed to the five Rocketdyne F-1s utilized in the Apollo program. While indeed powerful and highly advanced for their time due to the unique closed-cycle system they utilized, all the NK-33s firing at once shook the N1 so violently that it ruptured fuel lines and caused the crafts to either crash from engine cutoff or explode in the air. Neither one of those boded well for going to Luna.

"_You good, Sean?_" Dan asked over the radio, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I quickly reassured, initiating my hover mode. "Ready to proceed."

"_Unless otherwise asked, I shall remain silent during course of test and monitor all readings._" Dimitri finished before cutting off his end of the comm. "_Good luck, you two._"

We were on our own.

"_Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war._" Dan mused in the private channel between us, getting a quick chuckle from me as we hovered out of the hanger and fired our main engines, immediately soaring into the blue sky.

"**Yeah!**" I yelled out in excitement, letting my adrenaline take over as I felt the g-forces even through the inertial dampeners. I threw myself into a spin, watching the clouds spin around in my vision before I forced myself to stabilize. "This is the dream, man! I should have been a pilot!"

"_Hehehe, what do you t-think you're doing right now?_" He corrected with what I could only guess was a smile on his face.

"Good point." I conceded, cracking my neck as I slowed up. "Anyways, let's bet back on track."

"_Agreed._" He replied, pulling up next to me. "_First order, de…destroying the ground targets._"

It didn't take very long to destroy the targets at the test range. With our combined firepower, all the targets both mobile and stationary were destroyed in less than a minute. Dan's Python had two 58mm cannons and dual disruptor torpedo launchers, while my Viper had a quad of 58mm cannons. It was a good tag team, and I couldn't wait to do the space test.

Before the dust could even settle, we shot up into space through the atmosphere. I made sure to keep a constant eye on the structural readings during the ascent, but everything appeared just fine.

"How are things on your end?" I asked, looking over at Dan's crimson-colored Python slightly in the distance.

"_Everything is at one-h-hundred percent._" He responded, making the tense feeling in my stomach calm down as I put my hands back on the controls. "_I may have used a l-little too much ammo on those ground targs, though._"

"Heh…good. Let's get to the debris field and find our last batch of targets." I said, allowing myself to take a deep breath as I punched the throttle up.

The Cerberon Debris Field, as I had decided to unofficially call it, had formed after the Cerberus attack a few weeks ago and now occupied a fair portion of the upper exosphere above Reach's northern territories. The quarians, while very good at salvaging the remains of ships, weren't as skilled in cleanup as say, the Systems Alliance or the Turian Hierarchy. Though debris collection was still underway and salvage opportunities were better than ever, the area was still highly hazardous to anything without kinetic barriers.

The dangers of unprotected EVA were highlighted a few days ago when two men attempting to salvage cargo containers from one of the carriers were peppered by a fast-moving swarm of micro debris that had torn through them like a hail of bullets. Despite the dangers currently present, it was safe enough for those inside a ship with an average kinetic barrier to move through.

"Man, it still looks like hell out here." I remarked, recalling the video footage that Mara and I had watched shortly after the attack.

"_Look at the size of that carrier_." Dan quipped, pinging it in my HUD. "_It's h-hard to believe that there wa… was a whole invasion force on that monstrosity at one time_."

"You can see where the ODP tore into it." I added, marking another point-of-interest. "God, even with low-power shots the impact is devastating."

There was no denying that fact. The round fired by the _Cairo_ had struck the carrier from the bow, going all the way through the ship and exiting through the stern. The round had also ruptured their bootleg NM reactor, effectively blowing off the back of the ship, and the hole was so clean that you could see stars all the way on the other side.

My mind snapped back to attention as my computer picked up several test targets from the other side of the carrier.

"Showtime!" I announced, gunning my ship up as I put my frontal kinetic barriers at full power.

I soared over the ruined carrier with Dan following closely behind, dodging several pieces of debris before finally making visual contact with our new targets. Several decommissioned mining drones on automated paths through the wreckage, curtesy of our friend Dimitri.

"Let's mop these j-junkbots up and go home." Dan remarked with determination clear in his voice as we broke off from one another and began effortlessly taking out the moving targets. It was challenging, dodging the larger chunks of ship as we tracked each target, but much like on the ground, it was over before you knew it.

"Well Dan, I believe that is that!" I congratulated, clasping my hands together with a satisfying crack.

Suddenly, the comm lit up real fast as Dimitri brute-forced his way into our channel.

"_Sean, you must to get back to CASTLE Base immediately!_" He demanded in a rushed voice, sounding almost frantic in the way he spoke.

"Why, what's going on Dimitri?" I asked, suddenly confused and very much on alert.

"_It's your wife, my friend. She is going into labor._" He answered as my eyes widened more than they ever had in my life. "_You must get here soon!_"

I gunned the Viper as hard as it could go out of the debris field, Dan barely able to follow as I moved faster than I ever had before.

It was happening. It was actually happening.

I was about to be a father.

…

**A/N: Boy, big surprises, developments, and twists! What will happen next time? You can only wait and see!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	36. Creation

…

"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life."

(Omar Khayyam)

…

Six Minutes Later

…

I fired the Viper's forward-facing thrusters hard as I soared over Camp Dolor and towards CASTLE Base. I lurched forward as the airframe and the inertial dampeners struggled to handle the sudden g-forces being exerted on it. I could feel the hull shake violently as I went into a near nosedive towards the facility.

Before I could slam into the ground, I fired all of the VTOL thrusters at once, balancing out as I orientated myself right into the hanger. I deployed my landing gear, not even waiting for the spacecraft to come to a complete stop as I popped the canopy and threw myself back to the ground. I broke into a dash, pulling off my helmet as I ran to the main doors of the base.

"_Holy shit!_" Dan shouted over my omni-tool, soaring overhead as a sharp clap could be heard echoing through the air. "_You're going to get yourself killed pulling maneuvers like that!_"

"Open the door, now!" I shouted into my omni-tool as I neared the door, ignoring Dan's transmission as the door groaned opened and I slipped inside.

I ran past several more people before hopping into the nearest elevator and punching in Sublevel 3, the medical level. As the doors closed, I undid the top collar of my suit and pulled off my MMU to take some of my weight off.

There were about a million thoughts in my head at the current moment. I couldn't focus on a single thing as I struggled to calm my breathing down and relax.

I was going to be a father. My jaw trembled and my nose tingled as I took a deep breath to keep from tearing up.

Sublevel 3 was host to some of our most advanced medical suites and research wings. The entire section was self-sealing, completely contained from all other levels and equipped with more airlocks than I could care to count. It hosted some of the best medical technology available, much of it recently given to us by the Alliance. There were still several people down here recovering from injuries sustained during the attack on the base, many of whom were previously in critical condition.

As the doors opened up and bathed me in sterile, UV light, I could immediately see Dimitri standing near the reception desk with crossed arms. The moment he saw me coming, he made a beeline towards me.

"My god, you arrived fast!" He remarked with equal amounts of surprise and suspicion clearly evident in his voice.

"Let's just say I pushed the Viper well above its test parameters." I brushed off as we began to walk.

"I hope Viper is still in one piece." He voiced, clearly concerned. "Never mind, I do not want to know at this time."

"What happened?" I redirected, swallowing a lump in my throat as hard as I could as I forced myself to stay calm.

"From what I have been told, her water broke while visiting restroom on Sublevel 12." He answered as we walked into the maternity ward. "Richard is in there right now with two nurses getting her ready. He thinks it could happen any minute now."

"I'm guessing they want privacy?" I remarked, getting a nod in confirmation from Dimitri.

I nodded back to him as we both took seats outside of the room she was in. I let out a deep breath that I had been keeping in, only now realizing what I had done topside.

What I had done was stupid and reckless, and if anything had gone wrong I could have easily been splattered. I slowly wiped away the sweat from my brow as I absorbed all of this, garnering the attention of Dimitri.

"Are you well, my friend?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder as I continued to stare forward.

"Yeah… yeah, I've just… lot of things on my mind is all." I deflected, folding my hands in my lap as I looked at the clean, seamless walls.

A few more quiet minutes passed before Dan barged into the ward, looking none too pleased. He was completely pissed off.

"Sean, have you lost your fucking mind?" He asked in a barely hushed tone as I stood up to face him. "You nearly wrecked our working Viper prototype, and could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I'm sorry Dan, I don't know what came over me." I attempted to apologize, knowing full well and good that he was completely correct.

Dan stared at me for a few seconds, breathing heavily before giving me a quick hug.

"You moron." He exclaimed in forgiveness before releasing me, looking between me and Dimitri. "Listen… I-I've still got to sort out everything on the sur…surface. Wanna give m-me a hand, Dimi?"

"Of course." He agreed, standing up and giving me a nod before the two of them walked away.

All I could do now was wait, see what would happen. It was up to Richard to make sure everything was fine.

…

Two Hours Later

…

I sat quietly, imagining a rosary between my fingers as I silently muttered prayers to myself. I was at the point where I was worried sick, and the only way I was able to calm myself was to start praying. It brought back memories of my mother, who would often say prayers to me to calm me and help me fall asleep. I did feel slightly silly about it, but I couldn't deny the catharsis it provided.

My serenity was shattered the moment I heard the airlock cycling behind me, causing me to flip my head around at the source of the noise.

A few seconds later, two quarian nurses in white envirosuits walked out, followed by Richard who was trying to push the creases out of his lab coat. The moment he saw me, he silently beckoned me over with a hand wave. Only once both of us were in the airlock did I break the silence.

"So… how did everything go?" I asked in a staggered tone as the airlock began decon procedures.

He hesitated for a few moments, before putting his artificial arm on my shoulder.

"Sean, you are now the father of a beautiful baby girl." He answered with the biggest smile I had ever seen from the man. "The delivery went off without a hitch. Congratulations."

Hearing the news nearly brought me to tears again. I had to work to keep myself calm, otherwise I'd come off as a blubbering buffoon in front of my wife.

With that, the decon cycle ended and the door to the room opened, revealing my wife in bed holding our daughter. The lights in the room had been dimmed for comfort, and my wife had a dreamy, almost spaced-out look on her face. The one constant was her smile. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey honey." She greeted, sounding exhausted as she looked up at me. "You missed all the fun parts. It was intense for a while there."

"I'm glad you're feeling well enough to make jokes about it." I allowed myself to chuckle as I took a seat next to the bed.

I tilted my head as I examined every solitary feature of our daughter's face. I engrained it into my mind, like Leonardo Da Vinci making a sketch of someone who wandered into his workshop. She was beautiful.

"Can I hold her?" I asked, receiving a nod in confirmation as I carefully picked her up, wrapped in a blanket.

She opened her eyes, locking with mine as I felt my jaw tremble.

"What should we name her?" I asked, keeping my eyes focused on her as I spoke.

"I've been thinking about it for a while now… how about Elle?" Mara suggested as I looked between her and our daughter.

"Elle... I like it." I agreed, focusing back on her. "Hi Elle. I'm your daddy. Daddy."

"I think she takes more after you, based on that little nose." Mara joked, touching hers playfully before allowing her hand to go limp again.

"You think so?" I asked, cradling her back and forth as gently as I could.

She let out a small yawn, closing her eyes again as she quietly fell asleep.

"I think she's tired." I remarked, carefully handing her back to Mara. "She's so beautiful… I never could have imagined…"

I failed to finish the statement as tears rolled from my eyes, sucking away my words with it. I was overwhelmed with emotions.

As I pulled myself together and sat down quietly next to two of the most important people in my life, a new feeling suddenly struck me. Fear.

It was the same dull sense of fear I had felt before, but only now could I feel the full brunt of it. I was a full-fledged father. I was responsible for this little life the two of us had created. I had to protect her. Above all else, I had to give her a safe existence. This feeling rolled over me in waves, almost as if I was switching from cold and hot water over and over in the shower. I struggled to interpret these feelings in a logical way.

This was going to be a true learning experience, both for me and Mara. Good thing I was always itching for a challenge.

…

Serenity Valley, October 7th, 5:12 AM, 2184

…

I was awoken by the sound of thunder outside, sending a jolt through me as I rolled over. This was quickly followed by crying from the baby speaker on our mantle.

"Ugh… who's turn is it?" I asked out loud, my head flat on the pillow as I resisted the temptation to open my eyes.

"Yours." Mara replied in a groggy voice, as I let out a sigh of resignation and pulled myself out from under the covers. I quickly slapped the side of my head a few times to get myself awake, walking barefoot into the main living area before going into Elle's bedroom. She was crying softly, having been woken up by the storm.

"There there, it's alright." I reassured, picking her up and cradling her back and forth in my arms. "It's only a storm, hon. Everything's fine."

She cried a little bit longer until she grew tired and fell back asleep again. I gently placed her back in the crib, putting her blanket back on before kneeling down on one knee and silently looking at her. Watching her sleep so peacefully felt good in my heart, and made me instinctively smile before I left the room.

"Man, I've had challenges before, but this takes the cake." I said to myself, looking out the window at the storm raging outside. "Hope those flood generators are working good. Those boys probably have a lot of water down there."

I walked into the kitchen, popping a pod into the coffee machine as I grabbed a cup and placed it underneath. I knew that now that I was up, there was no chance I was going back to sleep. I needed to find something to occupy myself in the meantime. As coffee streamed from the machine into my cup, I grabbed my datapad and opened up my inbox, looking for new messages. There were two.

The first was from Admiral Zadie, informing me that the progress on the Phantom-class was progressing well. This was their first time building a brand new ship in decades, and the experienced engineering teams who had built Cairo Station were split between the new ODP and the Phantom-class. Progress had slowed on both as a result. The engineers were forcing themselves to re-learn the art of shipbuilding. Once operational, the first ship would be named the MSV _Ghost_ and all subsequent ships in the Phantom-class would be named in a similar fashion, after derivatives of the word "ghost" in other human languages. It would make it easier to keep them easily identifiable.

The second message was from Admiral Hackett, forwarded to me by Zaal'Koris. It involved the current status of the two joint flotillas, and how they had split and began searching elements of the Attican Traverse for possible Cerberus facilities. Lucky for us, they had managed to gather bits and pieces of data from the Barn, which was now nothing more than a massive debris field. All physical wreckage of interest that had been recovered was being transported to the Klenot system for analysis. Hackett was currently batting the idea of sending his own science team over to conduct tests as well, though this idea was being met with… obvious criticism.

I sat down to read the details for a while next to the window so I could watch the storm. It looked like a monsoon it was coming down so hard out there. During the spring season there's a lot of snow melt off, resulting in a lot of low-pressure weather systems getting pushed up from the south between the mountains, getting "funneled in" and concentrated in most cases. It led to some potentially nasty storms, but we predicted this and were reasonably well prepared for heavy rain.

The second message was the one of true interest. I carefully read over the reports regarding both the further action they were taking and what they had recovered from their search of the wreckage, looking for the juicier bits of information.

The first thing that caught my eye were the locations they were investigating first. They had split the two flotillas and sent them to the Hades Nexus and Kepler Verge respectively. What pinged my interest was the Kepler Verge, due to their having been previous Cerberus activity in the region according to previous after-action reports I had received. I could already guess from these location picks was that the two groups had retrieved very little in the remains of the Barn. I was positive that Cerberus, using our jump drive technology, was spreading to uncharted clusters through the Terminus Systems.

Hackett was very reluctant to enter the Terminus Systems due to the infamous reputation the Alliance held there. After the Skyllian Blitz, many uncharitable souls itched for a fight with any and all Alliance ships they spotted, and I knew Hackett didn't want anyone, especially the quarians, getting caught up in another guerrilla war with organized pirate bands. While not a massive threat, it could be a potential drain on valuable resources.

Looking over what they had salvaged from the Barn, it seemed to mostly be bits of tech Cerberus had missed while combing the debris of their station. I'd give the bastards this much, they did a good job covering their tracks. I was confident that even if anything had remained of the SDD, they would have salvaged any substantial pieces and hauled them off to god-knows-where. Initial scans showed a few anomalous materials, some unusual equipment, and a load of high-value scrap from a small abandoned outpost on the nearby planet.

It seems that Cerberus had been in such a hurry to clear remains from the station's debris field that they had left a dozen prototype fighters on the surface, along with some kind of experimental infantry fighting vehicle called the M-44 "Hammerhead". The fighters were mostly standard fair, though with a lot of modifications compared to those used by the Alliance. This Hammerhead IFV was what caught my eye. It looked like it had been partially based on the M-35 Mako in terms of design, but instead of wheels it had some kind of hovercraft setup.

Half of the fighters were being brought to Reach as I read the document, along with the Hammerhead. Admiral Koris informed me in the forward message that we would be testing and reverse-engineering these vehicles within the week. Personally, I looked forward to the opportunity to ride in a hovercraft. I had never been in one before.

I put down my datapad, looking out the window into the storm, mulling over all of this in my head as I took a sip from my coffee mug, taking in its warmth for a moment before allowing myself to sigh.

I could feel it in my bones. The next couple days were going to be interesting.

…

CASTLE Base, October 11th, 11:58 AM, 2184

…

I waited patiently next to one of the heavy transports as they offloaded several of the fighters. Dimitri and Dan would be working on those, while Sira and I went through the Hammerhead. The machine was still covered in its protective tarp, donned in various tacked-on papers and Cerberus symbols. By all regards, all we really needed to do was power it up and take it for a spin, but that would come at a later time. First order of buissness involved going through the whole vehicle, making sure everything was safe. Once we were certain that the IFV was clean, we would run system diagnostics on the onboard computer systems. Only after all of that could we set up a test run.

"So, how are the two of them?" Sira asked, walking up next to me.

"They're doing good." I answered, pausing as another forklift passed by before going on. "The little spud is like a vacuum, eats like a machine. It's incredible. The only thing I miss is the uninterrupted nights of sleep."

"I'm sure Mara feels the same way." She replied, looking at the cargo containers pass by as she opened up her omni-tool. "Planning anything special for tonight?"

"What do you mean?" I inquired, genuinely confused.

"For your birthday, obviously." She shot back, shaking her head with a smile as the thoughts in my skull finished processing.

"Wow… would you believe that with everything going on I actually forgot about it?" I remarked, causing her painted-on eyebrows to shoot up.

"Oh, no one should ever forget their own birthday!" She said with genuine concern and sadness in her voice. "Marking another year in your life is always important."

"Heh… I guess I've simply reached that point in my life where I no longer enjoy the prospect of getting older." I mused, leaning against the crate next to me. "That makes me… 32 years old now. Wow."

"I understand if you don't wish to talk about it. I know there are reservations regarding lifespan difference between our races." She apologized, before I turned around to face her completely.

"Bah, that has nothing to do with it." I scoffed, dismissing her assumption. "No, the simple fact is that I'm not young anymore. It's the simple truth."

"Even still, you should celebrate all the wisdom an experience you've accumulated during the past year." She replied, nodding to me.

"Perhaps." I agreed, shrugging as the Hammerhead began its move to Hanger 7. "Come on, we have work to do."

We both hopped on the back of the transport as it began rolling. Once at Hanger 7, we hopped off and walked in as they offloaded the vehicle. Once they had finished, we began talking the papers off of the tarp before I took out my knife and cut said tarp off. It flopped to the ground, revealing the shiny, pristine craft in all its glory.

"I have to hand it to them, they make interesting tech." I said out loud, putting my fists on my hips and nodding.

I walked over, opening the side hatch before slowly poking my head inside with a flashlight. It was a standard setup, two main seats and four more in the crew compartment. Even inside, most of the surfaces appeared to be pearly white, tacked with even more papers that Cerberus engineers had left inside. It was actually quite messy, much like Richard's lab.

"Anything of interest?" Sira asked as we picked out each individual note and looked over them before putting them into a protective bag.

"Nothing immediately noticeable, no." I responded, scrutinizing a red sheet that had several safety warnings printed on it. They mostly referred to the apparent lack of kinetic barriers the craft had, something that confused me before I put the paper down and continued to the next one.

After forty or so minutes we finished looking over all the notes, sealing the bag for analysis later. I then brought the toolbox in and the two of us began to strip the inside access panels out one by one, checking every nook and cranny for malicious devices. Things like explosives, bugs, and other possible unwanted additions. We didn't want to take any chances after what happened last time.

"_Hey, how are t-things going on your end, guys?_" Dan asked through my omni-tool, its orange glow lighting up the dark spaces not yet illuminated by our flashlights.

"Things are slow, but steady." I replied, using an electric screwdriver to removed one of the panels next to the fire suppression system. "How 'bout you two?"

"_Nothing at all, r-really_." He answered, sounding disappointed. "_These fighters may be smaller and more compact than our designs, but the sur…survivability looks laughable_."

"Looks can always be deceiving." I reassured with a groan as I leaned forward to get a better look inside the guts of the vehicle.

"_Yeah, yeah._" Dan finished, cutting off the connection as I determined everything was fine before carefully putting the panel back on.

"Well, I cannot fine anything wrong with the internals." Sira reported, hopping out of the IFV and smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt.

"I concur." I agreed, cracking my neck and letting out a sigh. "Alright, let's hook up some external power and get Powell up here to run some tests on the computer systems."

"Sounds good." She agreed, opening up her omni-tool as I walked over to the other end of the hanger and began dragging a heavy duty power line over.

Several minutes later, Powell walked into the hanger shrouded in a large, long-sleeved hooded robe. He wore it outside of the base as to not scare the volunteer personnel who weren't accustomed to him like those inside of the facility were. Seeing him in it reminded me a lot of Goris from Fallout 2, who wore a similar robe for many of the same reasons.

"I heard you two needed diagnostics performed?" He questioned, robe dripping from the rain as we nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah, we're just covering all the bases before we begin testing." I said, opening the access panel on the outside of the Hammerhead where the auxiliary power port was. It was a heavy jack about the size of my fist. "I'm going to plug it in and give it the minimum amount of running power."

"Affirmative. I'll physically hook into the computer system and access it the moment power is available." He agreed, pulling a long cord out of his arm and running it to the onboard computer. "Ready."

"Alright, here we go." I announced, taking the heavy plug and inserting it into the port with a clockwise twist, locking it in place. I could hear the hum of the craft as it slowly came to life.

"I've accessed the computer, analyzing system…" He announced as Sira and I stood next to each other and watched him as his head twitched slightly as he sifted through everything. "Hm… that's odd."

"What is it?" Sira asked, taking a few steps forward with crossed arms.

"While the system itself appears to be clean, there's a large amount of data stored here as well." He explained, looking at us as the rest of his platform remained immobile.

"Well, wouldn't that be data left on there by the engineers?" I hypothesized, scratching the underside of my chin as he looked back for a moment.

"There's more stored here than simple technical data." He refuted, shaking his head. "While there is information pertaining to the Hammerhead, there also appear to be shipping manifests, project goals, and other things outlined as… oh, now that is indeed interesting."

"What's interesting?" I asked in a completely deadpan tone, walking all the way up to him.

"It appeared that with these files, I may have been able to decipher the location of one of their space stations." He announced in the slyest tone I had ever heard from him. "It appears to be anchored in an uncharted system located in the Horse Head Nebula."

"The Horse Head Nebula? How could that be?" Sira questioned, looking wholly unconvinced. "If that were true, then that would mean they have a base of operations right under the noses of both the Alliance and the Turians."

"It's not that simple, Dr. Winters." He corrected, disconnecting himself from the Hammerhead and standing at full height. "The Horse Head Nebula is a legal grey area for both the Alliance and Citadel Council. It's filled with numerous unexplored worlds, frequent pirate activity, and most of the worlds that are colonized are run by mega corporations that engage in… questionable research endeavors."

"It's the smartest place to hide." I supported, tugging gently at my beard as the pieces fell into place. "Situated right in the middle of a giant sphere of bureaucracy, with clear access to all the major trade routes. It's perfect."

I then flipped around to face Sira, a stern look forming on my face.

"We'll need to finish this project another time." I said, putting one of my hands on her shoulder. "We need to report this as soon as possible, nip these bastards in the bud before they decide to pull anything else on us."

She nodded back to me with a more determined expression as we all pulled on our hoods and began running.

Everyone needed to know about this. We had a target.

…

MFV _Rayya_, October 11th, 2:29 PM, 2184

…

Powell, Sira, Dan, and Dimitri were all onboard the Rayya alongside Greg and all the Admirals as we presented the information Powell had pieced together. He had spent an hour explaining all the details while Hackett listened in over vidcom. By the time he was finished, I could feel the anticipation in the air as Hackett, Rael, and Gerrel all knew they finally had a target after waiting for the last month and a half for something to finally reveal itself.

"This is great news. With this intel, we can finally begin causing damage to Cerberus and their operations on a large scale." Hackett said, lightly pounding his fist into his other hand before looking at us. "Thank you, Powell. This is an immense benefit to our coalition."

"Your welcome, sir." He saluted with his three-fingered hand, standing completely at attention.

"We'll begin merging the flotillas back together immediately." Gerrel announced from his spot on the podium. "We'll gather in the Argos Ryo cluster before making our move on the facility."

"I'll send in one of our scout frigates to make a full sweep of the sector before we head in." Hackett supported, hands folded behind his back.

"Captain, seeing as how you and your team helped to bring us this data, would you like to participate in this operation?" Rael asked in a strangely satisfied tone of voice.

I mulled over the offer for a few minutes, weighing the pros and cons in my head before making me decision.

"Sorry Admiral, but I must decline your offer." I denied, holding up one of my hands. "My wife and I just had our first child, and I don't want her to worry about my well-being."

"That's perfectly understandable, Captain." Raan accepted with a curt nod, looking down at all of us. "This meeting is adjourned."

With that, Hackett's ghostly form dissipated as Greg's omni-tool shut down and we all dispersed. Greg walked up to me quickly with a sense of urgency on his face.

"Are you sure you want to turn down a chance to get your shot at these bastards?" He questioned in a conflicted tone, almost sad in a way.

"Greg, my wife and child are more important to me than my primal urge for revenge." I replied, stopping to focus on him. "Trust me, in any other circumstance I would hop on my ship and jump to that system myself, but times have changed, and so have my priorities."

He pursed his lips for a moment, looking down at the ground before looking me in the eyes and nodding. I knew exactly what he was thinking, but I wasn't willing to indulge those thoughts. I was going to let the trained men and women of our coalition do their jobs without having to look after us the whole time.

I needed to learn to take the backseat for a while, focus on my family. It was more important than any personal grudges I still held.

"Come on, guys. Let's go home." I finished, walking back to the shuttle with everyone on tow.

I could rest easy knowing we had at least made things easier for the flotillas in the long run.

…

**A/N: Sorry for making you guys wait a whole month for this chapter, my family and I are still dealing with the aftermath of my grandfather's passing. Compound that with a writer's block and an intense lack of energy and anyone will struggle to get any substantial writing finished.**

**So Sean and Mara finally had their kid with a little bit of drama on the side. Nothing too intense, but enough to hopefully make it interesting. It was one of the more challenging things I've written, and admittedly I had to scrap it and re-write it a few times until I got it completely right. It was a pure learning experience, and I hope you enjoyed it.**

** I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	37. Entropy

…

"Uh, Command? I've got a problem here! Some _cowboy_ clipped me on the way in and thrusters are at 50% and dropping."

(Pvt. Bitterman)

…

Serenity Valley, October 13th, 8:20 PM, 2184

…

Dan and I sat outside on the roof of Mara and I's house, knocking back some beer and listening to the Easy Rider soundtrack in the yearly tradition we had created. October 13th marked the day Dan and I had ended up over one hundred and fifty years into the future after the incident at Area 51. Sitting in our chairs and staring up into the sky, it was still hard to believe it had happened.

The hard fact to swallow there was that it had only been four years. In my mind, if felt like it had been decades since we ended up here. We've done so much, seen so much, and have experienced more than a lifetime's worth of hardship and pain. Thinking about it all at one time was enough to make you feel sick to the stomach.

And this was coming from someone with a real strong stomach.

"You know… there are s-still mornings where I wake up and won…wonder if I'm dreaming all of this." Dan mused, swishing his half empty beer bottle around as we watched the mist roll off of the mountain tops in the distance before looking back to the stars. "You ever think that?"

"Mm hm." I answered as I went about the task of gulping down more of my foamy drink. "Tell me, are you ever going to tell me what your Dad used to do? Even all these years later, the thought still bothers me."

Dan allowed himself to laugh out loud, rubbing his stomach for a moment before looking back at me.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't r-really matter anymore now, does it?" He agreed, taking another swig of his beer before going on. "Well, you already kn…know he was in the U.S. military. Fought in the Gulf War and all t-that stuff. After the war, he joined a p-private military firm which had close ties to the CIA."

"Your dad was involved with the CIA?" I blurted out, surprised by the admittance.

"Not directly, no." He shook in denial, looking up at the sky. "My dad helped act as an in…intermediary between the civilian sector and the military. He worked various disposal jobs for the m-most part, but was… also involved in a lot of engineering pro…projects, mostly involving satellites."

"Geez, that's a hell of a thing." I exclaimed, opening up a new beer bottle.

"He loved his country." Dan finished, staring up into space before giving a small military salute.

"You know what I miss the most about home?" I replied before taking in a deep sigh.

"What's that?" He asked, looking over at me.

"I miss our old stars." I said, tilting my head at I memorized the position of every singular speck of light in the sky. "I miss being able to see Orion and his big old belt."

"Orion was your f-favorite constellation?" Dan quipped up, sounding mildly surprised.

"That, and he was one of the easiest ones to spot in the sky." I joked, as both of us let out small chuckles.

We continued to stare up at the stars for a minute or so before Dan spoke up again, but much more softly than before.

"Do you ever wonder if what happened that day was r-really an accident?" He asked, sending a chill through my spine as my body froze.

All my thoughts and questions rolled back in an instant, taxing my mental processes to the extreme in a matter of microseconds. Theories, calculations, and statistics were all thrown together as I tried to piece together more explanations, but still with little avail.

"The thought had crossed my mind." I replied sheepishly, only realizing as I spoke that I had been holding my breath in since his line of questioning came up. "I've run the numbers countless times over the years, but I always end up with the same conclusion in my head."

"And that conclusion is…?" Dan urged, pausing for a response.

"It is a near mathematical impossibility that out of all the places we could have ended up, it would have been inside a habitable space station millions of miles from home." I answered, allowing myself to pause for breath before going on. "Do you know what those odds are? They're off the charts, completely unworkable numbers. In my opinion, if it wasn't somehow deliberate, it was either an act of God or one of the biggest coincidences in all of science."

Dan squared his view on me, dwelling on my words for the longest time before speaking back up.

"If it really were del…deliberate, then what exact purpose did it really serve in the end? Sending u-us a few hundred years into the future?" Dan questioned, suddenly sounding a little heated. "And never mind why, but _how_? _How_ could someone possibly have coordinates that precise when we never even knew it existed until over a hundred years later?"

"I don't know." I replied, shaking my head slightly as I started to become overwhelmed again. "All I know is that there's more to this than meets the eye."

"That's an understatement." Dan quipped, sounding tired as he took another sip of his beer and stared back up at the starry sky.

I could only hope that these questions could be answered in the future, because we were in no shape to answer them. Not now, and possibly never.

The idea that there was some sort of manipulation going on really ground my gears.

…

CASTLE Base, October 14th, 12:31 PM, 2184

…

I walked slowly through Sublevel 3 with a slight bounce to my step as I walked. I was going to check up on Richard and Powell and see what kind of progress they had made on the Immuno-Booster implant, and was bringing my daughter with me since it was my turn today to watch her.

She looked up at me as I gently carried her, causing me to grin like crazy. She was such a cute little spud, never failing to make me smile in joy as she reached for my face and cooed.

I walked into Richard's lab space, immediately seeing that one of his clean rooms were currently occupied. He was inside with one of his volunteers, either inserting an implant or doing a checkup. Whichever one it was; it was certainly an involved process. Powell was at one of the main consoles inside of the lab, working on something until he spotted me.

"Hello, Dr. Michaels." He greeted warmly, looking me over and spotting Elle cradled in my one arm. "I see you brought the little one today."

"Yep, she's a handful, but makes up for it in sheer cuteness." I replied, walking up to him. "Would you like to hold her for a bit? I know it's your first time seeing her in person."

Powell's eye aperture widened in mild surprise before he actually replied to my offer.

"Are you sure, doctor?" He asked with concern in his voice. "There exist the possibility that I might scare her."

"Well, there's no way to know until you try." I shrugged, carefully handing her to Powell.

Powell stared silently at her with his single eye as she tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

"Um… greetings little one. I am Powell, one of your father's colleagues." He said, sounding surprisingly nervous, an emotion I had never seen him exert before.

She stared at him in silence a few seconds longer before smiling and reaching up at his head with both hands. She squealed in sudden excitement, finding interest in him.

"Well well, would you look at that!" I remarked, arms crossed and with a big smile. "She likes you!"

"I was not expecting this outcome." He replied in a surprised tone, moving her slightly closer to his face so she could touch it. She playfully tapped his head with her little hands, looking quite entertained.

"Kids love big robots." I joked, leaning against the wall as I held back the urge to gush over her.

"While I am technically a synthetic mobile platform, that colloquialism is sufficient." He agreed, still staring at Elle as she cooed softly.

I looked back over at the clean room while Powell entertained her, chancing a look at the quarian volunteer inside the room with Richard who was himself wearing a clean suit.

It hadn't been the first time I had seen a quarian without their full suit before, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. All quarians were hairless, which was a given considering their physiology, and had pale, ghostly looking skin that browned around the mouth and eye sockets. Their eyes were mostly black with a bioluminesant iris and pupil, a holdover from the days when ancient quarians used to be night hunters. Many quarians had basic levels of cybernetics, mostly having to do with suit interaction. It was easy to spot; it was usually implanted around the base of the neck.

It appeared that this guy was receiving one of the new suits along with his implantation. The new suits that Richard and Powell had created were interesting in design. They were vaguely military in style, having a greater emphasis on protection and utility than older ones, yet still maintained the distinct style despite of this. It was quite striking, even before each wearer had made their personal touches.

Soundlessly, the quarian secured his new suit and put his helmet back on before going through the closet-sized airlock. He nodded to me and Powell as he left the lab without a word. Richard went through the same airlock moments later, pulling the helmet off of his suit and taking a deep breath as visible beads of sweat rolled down his face.

"Oh, hello Sean." He greeted after noticing me, walking slowly over to his desk and taking a deep gulp from a water bottle.

"I assume everything is above board?" I scrutinized with crossed arms, giving him a square look. "Your last report seemed kind of vague."

"Yeah, that last one was admittedly a bit of a rush job." He confessed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You want me to go through all the latest test results now?"

"It would help "ease my conscious", so to speak." I agreed as he and I walked over to the back of the lab where he kept his computer.

"Right, so two days ago I recently finished my third round of observations." He began, looking between me and the screen. "As far as I can tell, my implants have been performing beautifully. Out of all nineteen volunteers who signed up for my project, none have suffered any rejections and only one has had any major side effects."

"Those being?" I asked, one eyebrow cocked upwards in suspicion. He quickly picked up a nearby printout, squinting before reading directly from it.

"Subject #12, Hala'Krisk vas Narwhal, suffered a minor allergic reaction from one of the inoculations she received eleven hours after treatment." He explained, his artificial eye rotating as he focused on the text. "This resulted in swelling, specifically around the eyes. After giving her a standard Hydrocortisone shot, the swelling went down and she's been fine since."

"That's really the only thing that's happened?" I remarked, obvious doubt in my voice.

"You asked for the detailed results. Those are it." He stated matter-of-factly, carefully inserting the paper into a seemingly random pile. "Once the inoculation testing is finished, I'm going to move on to prosthetics."

"That's a bit of a leap, don't you think?" I scrutinized, letting out a huff of air as I forced my brain to log the entire conversation.

"Not at all, I have a perfectly valid example right here." He dismissed, holding up the grayish amalgamation of artificial muscle fibers that was his replacement arm.

"Good point." I conceded, nodding as he pulled his sleeve back down.

"Besides, the rough statistic regarding amputees in the Fleet is…" He paused, gazing up at the ceiling and recalling the information before looking back at me. "For every twenty-seven to twenty-eight quarians in the Fleet there are one or more missing limbs. These folks will be able to do so much more if their full functionality is returned to them."

He wasn't wrong in that regard. Due to the near constant, hazardous maintenance work that had to be done to keep the ships in the Fleet, especially the older ones, functioning, there was more than a fair share of stories where someone got their arm sliced off in a piece of heavy machinery, someone's foot got caught in an airlock door, exc. Those who didn't die from blood loss or exposure felt they were now weak links in their respective crews.

"Right then. Remember to include **all** relevant data in your subsequent reports." I ordered, pointing at his research papers. "I don't have to remind you how particular the Admirals are regarding proper documentation."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." He finished as we walked back into the main part of his lab. "Hey, I didn't know you brought the kid."

"Looks like Elle has a big robot friend." I joked, putting one of my fists on my hip as I watched her try and "climb" Powell's chest from his lap.

"She is properly motivated." He replied, handing her back to me as she looked saddened.

"Hey, seeing her put even the smallest amount of effort into anything is good for the future." I ended off, nodding to both of them as I walked out of the lab.

I stopped to stare at her once more, watching her yawn before another smile crossed my face. My senses were alerted to the sudden sound of someone running down the main corridor, causing me to flip around to see it was Greg.

"Sean!" He shouted out with a raised hand as if he wanted me to hold an elevator for him. "There you are!"

"What's wrong?" I inquired as he stopped in front of me, panting.

"Something big has just come up. Can we talk in your office?" He asked quickly, gesturing with his thumb towards the elevators.

I nodded in silent agreement, making our way up to Sublevel 1 after two minutes and entering my office. I carefully placed Elle inside the crib I had brought here before sitting down behind my desk.

"Alright, so what's happening?" I inquired, mildly annoyed but still open to what it was he had to say to me. "Does it involve Minuteman Station?"

"Yes, it does actually." He confirmed quickly, picking up on the tone of my voice. "The attack by the two flotillas went great today, and they managed to take the station in one piece. They didn't even see us coming."

"Not to sound rude, but I am already well aware of this." I stated, trying to move past the formalities. "Get to the point."

Greg paused for a few second to gather his thoughts before going on, making sure to calm his breathing.

"They're still clearing the station, and due to the size of it the operation will take a while." He started again, slower this time. "We've come across some kind of odd… operation going on inside of the station. Lots of experimental equipment, unsecured data files, and even more."

"I'm guessing no one else has had a good look at yet?" I guessed, leaning back slightly farther in my chair.

"Exactly." He confirmed, nodding his head vigorously. "We're not really sure what it is we've found here, but whatever it is it looks not only expensive, but important. Hackett wanted me to come to you with this information before doing anything else."

"Why?" I asked, now even more confused.

"He wants you and your team to come to the station and investigate this specific section of the station." He explained, holding out both hands. "He thinks you guys are better suited for finding out exactly what they were doing. The rest of the station is already beginning to crawl with Alliance R&amp;D, and despite how much they want it Hackett is saving it for you."

I leaned back in my chair, immersed in thought as I pondered the entire situation in my head. I rocked slightly back and forth, tugging on my chin hairs as I balanced pros and cons.

"Alright, I'll do it." I agreed, standing up and shaking Greg's hand. "Forward any extra info to my omni-tool while I get my team together."

"Sure thing." He quickly agreed, nodding to me as he walked out of my office.

As my office went silent, I looked at Elle in her crib, stuck in my thoughts once again.

I couldn't help but feel I had suddenly opened up a whole new can of worms. I could only pray we were up to the task of handling whatever came up next.

…

MSV _Explorer_, October 14th, 4:10 PM, 2184

…

I rhythmically tapped the arm of my Captain's chair as we made our final jump into the system, resisting the lifelong urge to bite my fingernails. The space in front of us rolled into view, revealing a rather large station with a distant nebula behind it. The entire sector was filled with Coalition vessels, something I had yet to see in person until now. It was admittedly surreal seeing the shiny, uniform Alliance ships working alongside the seemingly random assortment of Migrant Fleet vessels. There was a metaphor here somewhere, but I wasn't concentrating hard enough to find it at the given time.

The space around the station was littered with blasted out hulks, not nearly as many as above Reach, but enough to know there had been a serious scuffle. The station, in contrast, looked like it had taken little to no damage in the fight. The only evidence that I could see were a few scorch marks where point-defense turrets and GUARDAN arrays once sat.

As Dimitri submitted our access codes for IFF verification, I looked around the bridge at everyone who was here. Dan was at his usual station, doing his best to stay calm. I knew what was going through his mind at the current moment, but didn't want to dwell on it. Sira sat solemnly, going through the motions with the most neutral expression she could muster. She had been the hardest one to convince to come for this trip.

Richard sat quietly in the back, looking through his datapad as he silently suppressed his agoraphobia. He had been another hard sell, but when I mentioned advanced medical equipment, he quickly changed his mind. Powell had kindly elected to stay behind and watch Elle for me and Mara, something we were both very grateful for.

Mara stared out the bridge windows from the aux console, focused solely on Minuteman Station. She had her hair tied in a neat bun, something that I hadn't seen for a while. I always saw it as a way for her to say "let's get down to buissness" whenever she did. Greg had come along too, dressed in a standard combat hard suit like all the rest of us.

"Sir, Fleet Actual has granted us permission to dock." Lenlo announced from the communications console, leaning back to look directly at me.

"Good." I nodded, gripping both armrests tightly. "Take us in, and make sure kinetic barriers are double front. There's a lot of debris out there."

The bridge became silent once more as we creeped our way closer to the station. I was only now realizing how big it really was. It was easily over a mile long in its longest section, partially resembling a gun or a saber of some sort. It wasn't a defined shape, looking more like an amalgamation similar to Aldrin Station.

The sheer thought of it brought a shiver to my spine.

We pulled into a large docking area, mostly empty with the exception of three cruisers, two Alliance and one Quarian. We connected to the umbilical with a heavy *thunk*, coming to a complete stop once the magnetic clamps made contact.

"Alright, make sure you have everything before we go in." I encouraged, hefting my rucksack as I looked back over at Lenlo. "As usual Lenlo, you're in charge until we get back."

"Yes sir!" He quickly agreed, giving me a salute before the airlock closed with all of us inside.

"This does not feel right." Dimitri commented with narrowed eyes, like an animal on the hunt as mist filled the chamber. "I feel like we should not be here."

"I agree. If it weren't for the higher-ups, I would not have gone at all." Sira remarked, sounding none too pleased as she looked at me.

"We go in, investigate our section, and get out. It's as simple as that." I reassured, forcing myself to breath normally before the airlock opened, revealing two Alliance marines and one of the Migrant Fleet badasses in a Gen IV exo.

"Welcome aboard sir." One of the Alliance marines greeted, offering me a handshake which I quickly accepted. "Follow us, we'll guide you to your destination."

"Right then." I agreed with a quick nod as we began walking.

It was eerily quiet inside of the station as we walked. There were obvious signs of fighting all around us, though the bodies from the fighting had already been moved into rows for identification and processing, covered in brown tarps. Bullet holes from gunfire and scorch marks from plasma rifles could be periodically seen, along with splashes of blood on the floors and walls.

Despite how well the coalition had done in space, it was apparent that they had enough time to muster up their internal defenses. Still, it didn't really help them in the end. Our forces were equipped with much better technology. We crossed over into another section of the station, an obvious fact due to the massive clamps and airlock that could be seen holding everything together.

"Here you go, sir." The marine finished, all three of them stacking up on one door that had been cut through. "Admiral Hackett is waiting for you inside."

I nodded in confirmation, climbing through the hole into the bright lights of the room. It was immediately apparent what it was that Hackett was so curious about. The entire room was brimming with advanced equipment that I couldn't even identify. It was obvious it was built with a specific purpose, though what it was I had no idea.

"Oh wow…" Richard immediately said, looking like a kid in a candy shop based on the look in his eye. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"You'll get the chance to figure out what it is, Rich." Greg remarked, snapping is attention back to the group. "Once we're finished talking to Hackett you'll have free reign."

On the other side of the chamber was Hackett, who looked as if he hadn't even noticed us. He was facing away from us, staring at a lone cryopod humming away in the corner.

"Sir?" I asked, trying to get his attention as he kept his eyes glued on the pod.

"This man single-handedly saved us from near annihilation." Hackett said without breaking his line of sight, still focused on the frosted glass. "Seeing him like this is not easy."

Without a word, I stood next to Hackett, staring into the cryopod alongside him. Inside held the broken, battered body of Commander Shepard. Seeing him now, he looked more like a mass of scars and broken flesh than the man who's face had previously appeared on every Alliance recruitment poster at one point.

"What happened to him?" I inquired, this time in as soft as a tone as I could muster.

"While on a Council assignment to seek out and destroy any remaining Geth outposts in the Omega Nebula, the Normandy was attacked by an unknown ship and subsequently destroyed." He explained, still standing stiff as he stared at the remains of the man. "Twenty-one of the ship's crewmembers were killed, and Shepard went missing shortly after rescuing the ship's pilot. I suppose that number is now twenty-two."

Hackett slowly took off his hat, placing it over his heart. A gesture of great respect.

"I'm sorry, sir. I had no idea." I apologized as he broke his line of sight to make direct contact with me.

"Son, I want you and your friends here to find out just what the hell they were doing to him." He suddenly said in a much different tone, looking as if he was holding in barely contained anger. "I want everything, all relevant information, all the data you can possibly muster. Once you've done this, I'll see what I can do about giving Shepard a proper burial."

I nodded silently, giving him one of the firmest handshakes I could recall from memory before turning back to my team who all looked equally concerned.

"You heard the man, Let's get to work." I ordered, unslinging my rucksack and pulling out my portable console.

…

Minuteman Station, October 14th, 6:08 PM, 2184

…

Two hours later, and I was still just as confused as I had been when we first arrived. Most, if not all of this technology was medical in nature, which I was not particularly well versed in and limited how much I could really help with. Same went for Dan and Dimitri. We were all very talented engineers, but near-clueless when it came to other specific fields.

The exact opposite could be said for Sira, Mara and Richard, specifically Richard. All three were incredibly elated, looking more like kids in a candy shop that scientists. Richard still wasn't quite sure exactly what we were dealing with here, but he believed it had something to do with cybernetics or nanotechnology. Either one could be a potential boon to his ongoing research.

Dimitri, Dan and I focused mostly on collecting and cataloguing all the data stored in the computer systems, along with any paper notes while the other three made sense of all of the assets around us. I was busy trying to unlock one of the terminals, a painstaking process.

"Sons of bitches… I'm not good at this kind of shit." I exclaimed under my breath, restarting the spiking process for the eleventh time over the last half an hour. It buzzed for a few minutes as I attempted to break the codes, locking out on me again.

I leaned back against the wall, using all my self-control to keep myself from chucking my laptop across the room. This was a pain in the ass.

"Sean!" Dan yelled from the other side of the room. "You should c-come see this!"

Knowing Dan, it must have been important if he was raising his voice.

"I'm coming." I agreed, getting up off of the ground and walking over to him. He was huddled over one of the larger consoles, armor collar unclasped as moisture could be seen on his forehead.

"I think I may have fi-finally discovered what they were d-doing here." He said with what I swore was a twinkle in his eye. "Listen to this."

He clicked on one of several audio logs recorded on the system, bringing up a new window.

"_Log 119: September 27th, 2184. The project is proceeding on schedule. The rebuilding of major organs is slow due to degradation, but the introduction of the reconstructive nanomachines have mitigated this problem. Cloned replacements for the left lung and liver should be ready by the end of the month, but until then we have to rely on our equipment to keep the bodily fluids circulating properly._" A woman's voice explained, pausing before going on. "_All in all, we've exceeded all expectations. I've forwarded our current data to the Illusive Man, and will continue these logs once there is more to report. Lawson out._"

Dan and I stood there in silence for a few moments, thinking about what we had just heard.

"Play the newest one." I ordered, as he nodded and clicked on the one from three days ago.

"_Log 126: October 11th, 2184. Reconstruction of spinal column is nearly complete, though the subject's nerves will need much more work before they can reliably send and receive signals. Bio-synthetic fusion is proceeding well with a near ninety-nine percent acceptance rate. Primary fusion should be completed before the end of the year, and secondary fusion could be done as soon as April._" The recording went on, causing my eyes to widen as the puzzle pieces began to click together in my head. "_Repairs on the brain, specifically the parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and cerebellum are slow, though showing gradual signs of improvement. My suggestion to install a control chip at the base of the spinal cord was denied by the Illusive Man. It's very clear by this point he wants Commander Shepard back in the same state he was before the Collector attack. I've left Wilson in charge while I attend to another matter on the station, and will finish this log at another time. Lawson out._"

The recording cut out there as my mind suddenly began running faster than a McLaren F1. All of this around us immediately made sense, yet I still couldn't believe it.

Cerberus was trying to bring Commander Shepard back to life.

Saying it in my own head, it felt more like some weird subversion of Frankenstein. It seemed so absurd. All of this advanced, space-aged equipment and an entire space station wing… they did all of this for one man? Was there some kind of ulterior motive behind this, or did Cerberus see something in Shepard that I didn't?

"Everyone, gather around! I'm calling this in!" I shouted out, nabbing their attention as I walked into the center of the room. I opened my omni-tool, calling Hackett who was busy running interference between the Captains of the Alliance and Migrant Fleet ships.

"_Have you discovered something, son?_" Hackett asked immediately after accepting my call.

"Sir, based on several logs one of my colleagues found and the nature of the equipment here, I believe Cerberus was attempting to bring Shepard back to life." I said in as serious of a tone as I possibly could, resulting in a good five seconds of silence from Hackett's end.

"_Attempting to bring him back to life?_" Hackett repeated back to me, sounding very understandably confused. "_Are you sure, Michaels? That sounds like a stretch if I've ever heard one._"

"I am one-hundred percent sure, sir." I reassured, filling the room with an uncomfortable silence that lasted for what felt like a century.

"_Do you actually think they were on to something?_" Hackett prodded further, surprising me as Richard walked up with a raised finger. Knowing he wanted to speak, I nodded in confirmation.

"Sir, if I may… this is single-handedly the most advanced medical technology I've ever seen." He supported, gesturing with his hands despite the fact that it wasn't a vidcall. "Nano-breeders, bone grafters, protein synthesizers… with all of this, I can promise you one-hundred percent it is possible to bring him back."

Richard's assessment shocked everyone in the room, even me. Despite all the evidence around us, hearing him not only state it as a fact **and** promise a result was almost chilling. Out of everyone, Sira looked the most blown away. Her face had actually shifted to a lighter shade of blue.

"_Michaels?_" Hackett asked, voice both gruff and soft at the same time.

"Yes sir?" I replied, anticipating whatever was coming next.

"_Do you think you and your team could finish their work? Actually bring the man back from the dead?_" He inquired, same tone as before. "_He could very well be our only chance to stop the Reapers_."

I paused, looking hard at each and every one of the faces around me. There was deep contemplation on everyone's faces as we mulled over this heavily moral decision. Even if it was truly possible to bring Shepard back to life, would it be the right thing?

But then again, Hackett was completely right. If it hadn't been for Shepard, we could all be dead or gridlocked into an unbeatable war. The things he did and didn't get to do… it made be believe that he deserved another chance. Another chance to fight against forces that would seek to do us harm.

Slowly, everyone began to give me nods as they all agreed to Hackett's inquiry. I slowly leaned into my omni-tool, mentally preparing myself.

"I think we can give it our best, sir." I agreed in an uplifted voice, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.

"_I trust you and your team can get the job done, Michaels._" Hackett confirmed in a slightly more tired tone. "_I'll begin going over all the details with the Admiralty Board later. Until then, I want you and your team to pick up what you have and return to your ship._"

"Yes sir." I finished as the line went dead, filling the room once more with silence.

None of us had any words to describe what this all meant. Then again, silence was its own form of commentary.

One thing was for sure, though. We were going to bring a man back from the dead.

…

**A/N: Things just keep getting more complicated for Sean and his friends. The future may seem uncertain for some, but for others it's simply a new beginning. What will happen next? Find out next time!**

**This time I decide to address some reviews here at the end of the chapter. I like addressing any and all questions or criticisms you all have of my story, and this will hopefully be my way of showing my appreciation. Every bit of constructive criticism makes the story better!**

**griezz: While I understand your thought process behind this, if I made every bit of recovered Cerberus tech part of some sort of trap, the story would quickly become bland and predictable. As a prototype, it seemed pretty obvious that it would still be filled with information. That data was still needed for developing the IFV.**

**BJ Hanssen: Cronos Station is different from Minuteman Station. The only time we see Minuteman Station is briefly in the beginning of ME2, being where the SR2 was built. Going after a major Cerberus facility is a big task with lots of risks involved. Luckily, the coalition forces are pretty well equipped.**

**Maersikai: I'm sorry if you feel like Cerberus has too big of a place in the fic. The simple fact is that Cerberus is a major factor behind a lot of what happens in the story, some of which still has yet to be fully explained. Please try to leave more positive feedback.**

**Sajuuk: I like how you've coined my team as the "geek team", that gave me a good chuckle. In any case, I can't guarantee anything you've asked for. The tech everyone uses will progress at a normal pace along with the story.**

**Pietersielie: I don't believe Ackbar will be appearing, but I's always happy to see another Star Wars fan!**

**Feb 1****st**** Guest: In the universe of Murphy's Law, Mass Effect IS the actual future of the world. There is no game called Mass Effect in my character's story.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	38. Ablution

…

"Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul."

(Victor Hugo)

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 14th, 2:56 AM, 2184

…

I chugged down yet another cup of coffee as I watched the movement of people through the windows of the station, awaiting a response from Hackett as I spoke with Captain Mal over the bridge's communications console. I was trying to get a better idea of how the battle went to pass the time. Despite how late at night it was for me, my eyes were having no trouble staying open.

"So once the cruisers were disabled, what happened?" I asked, staring at the undefinable shapes moving back and forth. Being an internal docking bay, there wasn't much else to look at.

"_The station's automated defenses opened fire by that point, damaging several of our ships. The SSV Abuja took the biggest beating out of all of us since their kinetic barriers had already been knocked out, along with two of its escort frigates, the… Antietam and Kursk, I believe._" Mal explained, somehow sounding more tired than me. "_Based on some of these after-action reports I've read, I think they activated the station's automated defenses to act as a distraction while they evacuated all the civilian personnel, or just the ones of high importance."_

"That would explain all the soldiers the boarding teams ran into." I mused, holding my hand up to my mouth as I thought about this in greater detail. "Anything of interest happen after that?"

"_Fortunately, no. Once we were determined that there were no longer any hostiles on the station, we sent in teams equipped with Terahertz Locators to double check._" He replied, sounding much more interested. "_So far, nothing else has occurred._"

I nodded, taking in a deep breath as I stared at the floor panels for a moment.

"I just can't help but feel like something else is going on here." I remarked, rubbing my Father's ring out of nerves. "Why would they all just leave? You'd think that this station would be more important to them."

"_My best guess is that they're still reeling from the beating they took above Reach, and wanted to cut potential losses. That was a major force that attacked us a few months ago. Wiping out over 75% of it likely drained a lot of money and manpower._" Mal theorized, pausing for a moment before going on. "_I can't imagine them wanting to risk losing their science personnel along with their military force._"

"I agree, but still…" I began, but found myself unable to finish. "Never mind. I'll see you later, Mal."

"_Goodbye, Sean._" He finished, cutting the connection with a small pop as the line went dead.

Once more, the bridge was filled with deafening silence. I stared at the idle communications console for a few moments before taking an OSD out of my pocket and inserting it into the console. It lit up, showing my collection of music as a massive list.

"Let's see…" I said to myself, flicking through the list with my finger as I tried to find a good piece to listen to.

I lazily pressed my finger against the folder marked "SOUNDTRACKS", bringing up another list of folders. I gave the list a hard flick, sending the folders flying upwards. I closed my eyes, waiting for several seconds before pressing my finger blindly against the screen.

It landed on the "Ghost In The Shell" soundtrack, immediately playing "Chant III – Reincarnation". I could only scoff at the sheer irony, throwing myself into the chair in front of the communications console and leaning my head back as the track played.

A few minutes of listening later, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 14th, 7:10 AM, 2184

…

"_Hey, wake_ up!" I heard as I slowly opened my eyes and found they were full of moisture.

"Ugh…" I groaned as I rubbed my eyes and took a better look. Greg was standing in front of me, wearing a hoodie and a mildly annoyed expression.

"Hey, Hackett wants to see you in the CIC." He said as he narrowed his view. "I'd kick your ass into gea-"

"Hackett's on my ship!?" I yelled out in sudden surprise an my brain finished processing his words, nearly falling out of the chair as I barely corrected my balance and stood up. "Jesus, I wish I could have gotten some warning. I'm a mess!"

Greg shrugged, giving me a neutral expression as I styled my head and facial hair with my bare hands. I attempted to smooth the wrinkles out of my button-up shirt to no avail, letting out a sigh of resignation before straightening my back up and opening the door.

"Did anything happen last night?" I asked Greg as I walked, seeing Hackett in the distance with his back turned.

"Trust me, if anything did happen you'd be one of the first people to know." He dismissed, walking alongside me.

I shook my head in annoyance, taking a deep breath as I walked into the main portion of the CIC. Hackett turned to face me with an even more sunken look to his face than usual. My best guess was that he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before.

"Sean, good to see you up and about." He greeted with a firm handshake, immediately putting his hands back behind his back. "Gregory, I'd like to speak with him in private for a few minutes."

"Yes sir." Greg nodded in agreement, quickly walking over to the elevator and punching in the floor below. As soon as the doors were closed, Hackett turned back to me.

"So, I just got off the comm with your Admirals… I had to pull a few strings, but I've secured the transfer authorization to move the lab module containing Shepard and the experimental equipment to Reach." Hackett explained, walking around the holographic map in the center of the room. "Once there, it shall be temporarily attached to one of your Orbital Defense Platforms."

"I hope they didn't give you a hard time, sir." I said, holding up one of my hands.

"They didn't want me to attach a newly secured chunk of a hostile space station to one of their giant guns, but it's safer inside the influence of those energy shields." He mused, staring up at the image of the nebula and surrounding area as I sensed a tinge of annoyance in his voice when he mentioned the ODPs.

He had a reluctant look in his eyes, one that betrayed other thoughts going through his head.

"With all due respect sir, if this is all you wanted to tell me, why would you have come to meet me in person?" I asked, looking into his eyes as he met mine and let out a sigh.

"Last night, we received a coded transmission from an unknown source." He admitted, walking back over to me and stopping six feet from me. "After deciphering it, we discovered it was from a small group of Cerberus scientists who supposedly defected during the evacuation of the station. They're hiding out on Xawin, hoping we can grant them asylum."

"Geez, this just keeps getting better and better." I scoffed as I shook my head and put my hands in my pockets. "Any idea if they're connected to this specific project?"

"No, but we do believe that their leader, a Dr. Nathan Sterling, has some connection to their biological warfare division." He answered, keeping his focus on me. "I'm sending you and two other Coalition ships there to make contact. If all goes well, they'll be taken into custody and brought back to Arcturus for further questioning."

"You're sending us?" I questioned with a mixture of confusion and worry written on my face. "Pardon me, sir, but shouldn't we be here overseeing the transfer of this lab module?"

"Son, I've got plenty of capable hands available to move the lab. I'm sending you and your team because you have more experience interacting with these types of people." He reasoned, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, the SSV _Thermopylae_ is one of the best ships under my command, and you're already well acquainted with the MFV _Idenna_ from what Admiral Gerrel has told me."

"Mal is going to be heading the mission?" I quipped in mild surprise, knowing that his ship classification would make him the flotilla leader.

"Indeed he will." He confirmed, giving me another stern look. "Listen, if the mission goes well… once you reach Arcturus I'll send word that you're to be supplied with some premium goods of your choosing. Food, domestic goods, maybe even some other things. I know you don't get that many luxuries living on the edge of the galaxy."

I rolled his offer around in my head for a few moments, thinking it all over before coming to a decision.

"If you're going to make us do this, at least have my wife sent home." I pleaded, locking eyes with him. "We have a child back on Reach, and I don't want to risk anything happening to both of us."

"Agreed." He nodded, offering a handshake. I accepted it with full gusto, refusing to break my eye contact with the man. "If we do this right, we might have valuable new allies in our war against Cerberus."

"We can only hope." I remarked, still not liking the situation I now found myself in.

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 14th, 10:11 AM, 2184

…

I stood in the hanger of my ship as two shuttles pulled in, one of them an old Batarian scout shuttle, and the other a brand new Alliance Kodiak. Captains Mal and Weir were boarding. It was a tight fit considering how small the hanger of the _Explorer_ was, but they managed to pull it off. After they had left, we'd be getting a Mako IFV for use during our mission.

Mara would be picked up by the shuttle dropping off the Mako, then taken home by one of the quarian ships overseeing the move of the lab module.

Behind me was Greg and Lenlo, who both had their hands patiently folded behind their backs. Greg had decided to stay on our ship to help with the transfer to Arcturus, and Lenlo was joining us because he was my ship's CO. If we were going into unknown territory here, I needed everyone on my ship to be up to speed.

The shuttles landed with gentle thumps, slowly opening up and revealing the Captains. Mal didn't need any introduction, he was as good as a friend as one could possibly have in the Migrant Fleet. He was flanked by Lemm, who I was actually surprised to see again. The only unknown here was Captain Simon Weir, who came out with full dress blues and was followed by one of his men, who I guessed was either his CO or an assistant.

"Welcome aboard, everyone!" I greeted with a full smile as they approached, giving both firm handshakes as soon as they were within arm's length. "Captain Weir, it's good to meet you."

"Likewise!" He returned with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, nodding his head. "I've heard good things about you and your ship, Michaels. I look forward to seeing you and it in action."

"I think you'll like Captain Mal, he's a good friend of mine." I redirected as the two men shook hands. "Knows his crew better than any ship Captain I know."

"How do you pronounce your ship's name again?" Mal asked with genuine curiosity, focusing hard on Weir. "Thermopay?"

"Thermopylae." He corrected with the proper pronunciation, looking at both of us. "She's a good ship, named after one of the most influential battles that took place in Ancient Greece."

"The Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas and his army of seven thousand Greeks managed to hold the mountain pass against one-hundred and fifty thousand Persian soldiers for three whole days." I recalled from deep within my brain, remembering my history classes well.

"Ah, this guy knows his stuff!" Weir said out loud with gusto, giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder as he looked back to Mal. "This is a smart friend you have here, Mal!"

I could only imagine that Mal was smiling behind his helmet. Weir was friendly, almost like my Uncle Arthur from my old days. I liked his spirit.

"So, shall we get down to buissness?" Mal inquired as I nodded and we all piled into the elevator. Less than a minute later, we were all gathered in the CIC in front of the galaxy map. My whole crew was here for the briefing, leaving us with a serious atmosphere.

"So according to the data Hackett has given us, our defecting scientists are here on Xawin." I began to explain as Kirva operated the map, showing a holographic representation of the frozen planet in question. "The planet is engulfed with ice storms, meaning that if they are hiding there like they claim to be, they'd be limited to the shuttle they used to escape. The _Thermopylae_, call sign Lambda, and _Explorer, _call sign Delta, will land within four miles of the transmission, wherein our ground teams will proceed to the pickup location."

"What are we doing during all of this?" Mal asked with folded arms, knowing he wanted to have a piece of the action.

"Mal, you and the _Idenna, _call sign Alpha, will be our backup in case things so south down there." I stated, pointing at the 3D topographical map. "You'll cover our airspace and warn us if anything jumps into orbit or any other unidentified signals are seen near or around the surface."

"Alright, sounds reasonable." Mal nodded in agreement. "We'll be your guardian angel during this little trip, I suppose."

With that, I nodded to Weir, allowing him to say his part.

"If we are met with any hostiles, we are to immediately assess the strength of our attackers and respond accordingly. If it's a small force, we eliminate them. If it's a larger force, we retreat to our ships." Weir explained as the map displayed our ships in the planned landing zones. "If these people are serious about defecting, we will split them up into two groups for security and take them to Arcturus where Alliance Intelligence will debrief them."

"This is a dangerous situation, people. I expect you to all give it your best." I expressed as seriously as I could, looking everyone in the eyes. "We will make our jump to Xawin at eleven-hundred hours. Good luck."

With that, everyone dispersed, leaving me standing in front of the map with only Mara at my side.

"I really wish you didn't have to do this." She mused, doubt clearly written on her face.

"It'll be alright." I reassured, grasping her hand tightly as we stared at the galaxy being projected in the center of the room. "While I'm out there, I'll get you and our little girl something special."

"That sounds nice." She mournfully agreed, giving me a tight hug. "If anything happens out there, anything at all, don't take any risks that aren't necessary. I want you to remember you have a family waiting for you at home."

"There's never going to be a day where I don't remember." I promised, still holding her tight as I gently patted my hand on her back. "Give her a little extra love for me while we're gone."

"I will." She agreed, pulling away from me and picking up the bag containing the gear she had brought with her and walking into the elevator. "I love you."

"Love you too, hon." I finished as the doors closed, leaving me alone.

I stared at the doors for a few more moments, thinking of Reach for a few moments before taking a deep breath and walking back to the bridge.

I knew I'd be home soon. There was just one more job to do.

…

MFV Explorer, October 14th, 10:56 AM, 2184

…

I sat calmly in my chair on the bridge, waiting for the signal from Mal's ship for us to initiate a coordinated jump. Once in the system, we had to move fast to avoid any attention from any other potential parties. Going in without any recon was risky, but we didn't have the benefit of time.

I was donned in full combat gear, ready to run down to the hanger as soon as we were entering the atmosphere. Me, Dimitri, Dan, Lenlo, and Kirva would all be taking our new Mako onto the cold, undeveloped world while everyone else stayed on the ship and kept everything warm for our return. If everything went to plan, we'd be bringing people back with us.

I still wasn't sure what to think about these supposed "defectors." Barring the thought that it was all a trap, I felt deep reluctance to allow former Cerberus members onto my ship after everything that had happened. These people knew what they signed up for, but the occasion brought another thought to my mind...

Part of me wondered how many other scientific talents they had treated like us. Were we a special case, or did Cerberus employ many other scores of scientists, subjugating them to the same threats and demands we endured? It made it seem obvious why people would want to defect, but I knew that wasn't their whole buissness model. I was certain there were plenty of scientists who truly believed in Cerberus' ideals.

That's why caution had to be taken with these types. Anyone claiming to be an innocent scientist could be an undercover Cerberus operative.

"Sir, we've received the signal." Lenlo announced from his station, looking back at me as his console lit up.

"Link our drive to their signal and jump on their mark." I ordered as a small timer appeared in front of me. It counted down from 00:47, marking less than a minute until our mission officially began. "Keep yourselves steady, people."

I watch the number tick down, feeling my heartbeat increase as it got closer in closer. The moment it reached 00:00, I took as deep a breath as I could as the fabric of space folded and warped around us, jumping all three of our ships instantly into view of the icy planet.

"Jump successful, running scans of the system…" Sira announced as I looked up at the bridge camera, knowing Lydia was already far ahead of her.

"_Looks clear._" She announced through my earpiece before Sira concurred with her. "_None of the other ships have detected activity._"

"Alright, take her down. Lenlo, you're in charge while we're gone." I ordered to everyone before standing up.

Once on the hanger deck, the doors opened revealing the Mako, which took up what little remaining space there was in the area. It was brand new, not a single scratch or dent to be found. Dan was already inside of it running diagnostics on the 155mm cannon with which he already had previous experience with from the Dragoon project.

Dimitri was still putting on his armor as Kirva sat quietly next to the IFV with her Graal Spike Thrower. The gun was both bigger and longer than her arm, leaving me curious as to how she could carry it around, let alone fire it.

"Sean, Mako is ready for deployment." Dimitri announced, snapping the last piece of his armor in place. "You shall be my navigator, while Dan controls turret."

"Understood." I nodded back to him as we all piled into the vehicle. "You ready, Dan?"

"As r-ready as I ever could be." He replied in an unsure tone, giving the main gun a full 360-degree spin from the gunner's copula. "I feel like I'm inside of a Soviet-era tank considering how bad this gun depression is."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." I dismissed, looking at the woman with the tooth necklace dangling from her helmet. "How about you, Kirva? You doing good?"

"I just hope I get to see some action." She answered, slamming a new ammo block into her fearsome weapon.

"As much as I'd like to see you in action, I hope it doesn't come to that." I shot back as our radio crackled.

"_Landing in thirty seconds!_" Sira announced, sounding slightly stressed as I felt the planet's own gravity tugging slightly as we moved through the atmosphere. As soon as we landed, a resounding boom vibrated through the ship, indicating we had made a successful landing. "_Opening hanger doors…_"

Said doors groaned as they slowly opened, revealing an icy tundra in the middle of a full-blown ice storm. Dimitri revved the engine, bringing a little more heat into the crew compartment before stepping down on the pedal and sending us careening outside the safety of our ship.

We were on our own until further notice.

"Delta to Lambda, we are one the ground and proceeding to the transmission location." I announced over the comm, feeling myself shake back and forth as we ran over a rocky patch.

"_Understood, Delta. We've made landfall as well, heading to location now._" Weir replied, sound cool and collected.

I felt my stomach lurch slightly as we went over a small hill, causing Dan to yell in excitement.

"Yeah!" He exclaimed, leaning down from the cupola to look at me. "Doesn't this remind y-you of Pasadena, Sean? Doing that p-paintball match in the middle of the snowstorm?"

"You and I remember Pasadena Paintball very differently." I replied, voice dripping with obvious sarcasm. "All I remember is slipping on that frozen puddle and knocking all the air out of my lungs."

"You two worry me sometimes." Dimitri commented, shaking his head without looking back as he focused on the terrain outside. "Did all of you and Dan's… tactical experience really come from archaic games such as paintball and airsoft?"

"You'd be surprised how good it can be for building tactics and practicing team movements." I argued, leaning back slightly in my chair as I briefly looked over at Dimitri. "We did airsoft professionally for two years before going on our contract with DARPA."

"You forget It also h-helps that we're both avid military history f-fanatics." Dan supported, his voice slightly muffled being up in the cupola.

"What's a DARPA?" Kirva asked, obviously confused by what we were talking about.

"It's an acronym. It stood for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency." I explained, looking back at her. "Dan and I used to work for them before joining the Alliance."

"Quiet, we've nearly reached destination." Dimitri hushed as we began to roll more slowly.

We slithered to the top of the last hill overlooking the general area, barely able to see the shuttle in the distance. If it hadn't been for its running lights I wouldn't have been able to see it at all.

"Wait for Weir's team to show up." I urged, scanning the icy, rocky terrain waiting for them to appear. After a minute of waiting, they finally appeared over the opposite ridge.

"_We're ready._" Weir announced over our locked comm, as I gave him confirmation and opened up our signal.

"Dr. Sterling, this is Captain Sean Michaels of the MFV Explorer." I began, speaking clearly and concisely into the Mako's microphone. "Can you read me, over?"

The line sat idle for a few moments before I finally got a response.

"_Captain Michaels… thank God you are here._" An accented male voice answered, sounding British. "_I was hoping Hackett would send somebody for us. We thought we could land here and discharge our static from the escape jump, but the ice got into our thrusters and seized them up. We're trapped inside of the shuttle without any hard suits to brave the cold._"

"I understand your situation, doctor." I reassured, barely keeping my nerves in check as I spoke. "We'll find a way to get you out of there, but you do understand you and everyone else in the shuttle will be taken into Alliance custody, correct?"

"_I don't care if I have to rot in a black site prison for the rest of my days. As long as you get me and my friends out of here and far away from Cerberus, you can do whatever you damn well please to us._" He agreed, helping ease the feeling in my gut slightly as I switched channels.

"Did you get all of that?" I asked Weir, getting a quick response.

"_Yeah, this isn't the first time we've run into a situation like this. Something similar happened before on Mavigon._" He admitted with what I could only imagine was a neck scratch. "_We're in luck though. The Mako comes with everything we need to get them out of there quickly. There are six electric blankets in the back left compartment, along with a set of rebreathers in case they don't have any. What we'll do is back our Makos as close to the shuttle as we can, get in there, wrap them up, and run them into the cabins of the Makos before frostbite sets in. It should be as simple as that._"

"Sounds good." I agreed, seeing nothing wrong with his plan. "Link over to channel Four-Beta so we can coordinate with these people."

I switched back over, hearing talking in the background.

"Sterling?" I asked out loud, hoping to get more information out of them before we left our vehicles. "Listen, we have a way to get you and your friends out of there, but it's going to require full cooperation on your part. How many of you are in the shuttle?"

"Seven of us, including me." He answered in a quickened voice.

"Alright, here's the game plan. We have two Makos here, and we're going to partially split your group up for space and security reasons." I began to explain, making sure every word came out of my mouth correctly. "Four of us are going to come into the shuttle with what you'll need, and then we'll explain the rest of the plan."

"Understood, we'll get ready." He finished, cutting the connection.

Weir and I's Makos slowly made their way closer to the shuttle, ready for anything. When nothing happened, we got as close as we could together and backed up to the side hatch of the shuttle.

With another puff of air, I put my helmet on along with Dimitri and Dan as I pulled open the hatch and went out into the cold with Kirva. We both carried the electric blankets and rebreathers they'd need, trudging through the thick snow as bone-chilling cold leeched through my suit. Weir and one of his men did the same, ending up next to us once we were at the shuttle.

I banged my fist against the side of the shuttle, watching it open as the four of us quickly moved inside. The small compartment was empty, everyone having moved into the pressurized cockpit. As soon as the pressure was stabilized again, the door slid open revealing the seven escapees. Their uniforms were the first thing I noticed. They were lined with the usual black and white Cerberus colors, and were all very clean. None of them appeared to have any weapons aside from one of them, a colder-looking pale woman with a black ponytail and piercing blue eyes.

"Hello, I a-am Dr. Nathan Sterling, and these are my colleagues." He greeted, walking to the front of his group as he gave everyone's names "Dr. Watterson, Dr. Sadler, Dr. Keller, Dr. Gastwirt, Dr. Lawson, and Dr. Kaznyk."

I stood there for a moment processing all their names before something ticked one of my warning boxes. It immediately brought me to a cautious state.

"Lawson?" I asked out loud, remembering that name from the recordings Dan and I had listened to yesterday as the woman in question buzzed with a blue field of energy. She was a biotic!

"Hold it, bosh'tet!" Kirva threatened, leveling her Graal Spike Thrower at the woman as Weir and his right-hand man did the same. The other six scientists backed away, seemingly confused by the sudden turn of events.

"How do you know me?" The woman asked in the same Australian accent I remembered from the lab recordings, still crackling with biotic energy.

"You're one of the people who were involved in that project on Minuteman." I answered, taking a single step towards her as I narrowed my gaze on her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

She looked harder at me, giving Kirva and Weir quick looks before focusing back on me again.

"Is it all still intact?" She asked in a slightly lighter tone, still ready to strike at us at a moment's notice. "Is he still stable?"

"He is." I answered, giving her a reassuring nod. "We're having the lab moved to Reach where we'll finish the work you and your colleagues started."

"So you know what we were doing then." She relaxed, allowing her biotics to charge down as she resumed a relaxed stance. "Listen… I know how it all must have looked considering our reputation, but the work we were doing-"

"Save it, I'm not interested in hearing it." I shut down as her face became hardened again. "You could have stuck with your group and escaped with everyone else, but you decided to join them and defect. Why?"

She took a deep breath, taking a few steps forward until we were nearly in each other's faces.

"I left because I knew if I stayed there would be no chance of working on Project Lazarus again." She reasoned, staring into my eyes with her soul-piercing steely blue eyes. "I don't leave my work half-finished, it's unprofessional."

I examined the features of her face for a few more moments, looking for any possible ticks that could indicate she was lying.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked, giving her the same exact look. "How do I know you're not going to stab us in the back?"

She responded by handing me her sidearm, then plucking the biotic implant out of the port on the back of her neck and handing it to me.

I examined her face one more time, accepting her gesture as everyone relaxed and lowered their firearms.

"I can respect wanting to finish your work." I nodded, putting the amp and handgun inside my rucksack. "Now, we can't be here for too long, so gather around and listen up. We're getting you guys off this rock."

…

**A/N: Things continue to get more and more interesting as time goes on! What will happen next? Will Miranda hold up her end of the bargain and come peacefully, or will she attempt to overthrow the Explorer and her allies? You guys will just have to wait and see!**

**I was on quite the kick for this chapter now that things are speeding up again! College hasn't been too obstructive either, giving me plenty of time to write! For those interested, I'm not basing Miranda's looks off her ME2 and ME3 counterparts. I've decided to us LuckyFK's "Miri" rendition on deviantART, considering it gives her a much more professional, realistic look. I highly suggest searching for it, LuckyFK is a great artist.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**

…**REVIEW RESPONESE…**

**Tusken1602: I hope I answered your questions with this chapter! **

**Sajuuk: As I stated before, I aim to keep the technology in this story within the realms of realism. Just because you like something from another sci-fi universe doesn't mean it'll appear here.**

**BJ Hanssen: While I fully understand what the canon description of suitless quarians is supposed to be, I decided to go with a slightly different concept because I simply wasn't a huge fan of what they came up with for ME3. Still, I appreciate the thought.**

**February 18****th**** Guest: Yes, Mass Effect is the only thing that never happened in their universe, because Mass Effect IS their universe. Everything else happened normally.**

…


	39. Coterie

…

REPUBLISHED DUE TO ANOTHER SITE GLITCH. SORRY FOR ANYONE THAT READ THIS CHAPTER ALREADY.

...

"Often when we guess at others' motives, we reveal only our own."

(Mara Sov)

…

Xawin, October 14th, 11:27 AM, 2184

…

The heated situation earlier had left me feeling slightly warmer under the armor despite how chilling the air around me was. This woman, Miranda Lawson, held herself in a way that suggested she was the real leader of this group, but I dismissed these thoughts after giving the situation more time to roll around in my head. Her defection must have been a sort of gut reaction made in the heat of the moment, because she obviously hadn't been planning it.

It was clear to me that she wouldn't have left Cerberus if the risk of losing all her work wasn't there. While I rightfully suspected her of having ulterior motives and had quietly instructed Kirva to keep a close eye on her, something about her felt slightly more genuine than not. Genuine or not, she was willing to risk the wrath of her own organization and come down here.

I needed more information from her, and a hell of a lot more time to think about it. Time, however, was not a luxury we had at the current moment.

After carefully explaining our extraction plan to the seven, I radioed in to inform Mal of our situation.

"Delta to Alpha, we have secured our objective and are preparing for exfil." I announced over the encrypted channel, waiting for a moment before getting a response back.

"_Affirmative Delta, things still look clear on our end._" Mal replied, the signal mildly shaky due to the inclement weather outside. "_We will continue to hold position and let you know if we spot anything._"

"Roger that." I finished, cutting the transmission before turning back to the group. "Alright, line up and get ready!"

All seven of them lined up, four going to our Mako and three going to Weir's. They fired up their electric blankets, wrapping themselves up as tightly as they could as the temperature noticeably rose inside of the compartment.

"Masks on!" I ordered as they pulled the rebreathers over their faces, hiding their facial features. "Alright… five…. four…. three… two… ONE!"

I opened the hatch, sucking any remaining air out into the atmosphere as everyone ran to their respective Makos. The entire process lasted for less than ten seconds, but in the end everyone managed to reach their destination without falling down in the snow. We ushered our four in, hopping in behind them and immediately closing the hatch.

Dimitri gunned the engine to generate more heat as the atmosphere equalized. The scientists, Sterling, Watterson, Kaznyk, and Lawson were all visibly shivering, still wrapped in their blankets.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked, pulling my helmet off as they all did the same.

"Y-y-y-y-e-e-a-h…" Watterson shuttered, breathing heavily into his hands before putting them under his arms. Kaznyk pulled the blanket over her head and sobbed quietly, the stress of the situation likely having gotten to her.

"My god… I've never… ever experienced… such bloody awful… cold…" Sterling forced out, clutching his blanket so hard that it looked libel to tear as he rocked back and forth.

"Can we go now?" Lawson asked in a deadpan, staring forward into empty space with bits of snow still stuck in her jet-black hair.

I looked back at Dimitri, gesturing to him with my head as he nodded in return and began the drive back to the _Explorer_.

Unlike how it had been on our way over, the drive back was completely silent other than the sound of the Mako itself. No one spoke a word, not one. Dan had a look of disgust on his face, Dimitri forced himself to emit as neutral of a face as possible, and I could only imagine Kirva was praying silently to herself that one of them would attempt to make a move on us. Especially Lawson.

"_Delta, Delta, this is Alpha, do you read me?_" The comm suddenly crackled, breaking the relative silence as we all turned our heads at the source of the noise. "_Respond now!_"

"This is Delta, what is the situation?" I asked quickly, knowing deep down in my gut that the situation had taken a sudden turn.

"_We had a brief engagement with one of those stealth ships, Cerberus markings confirmed!"_ Mal furiously explained, sounding as if he was in a near-panic. "_We managed to damage it before it slipped through the atmosphere_. _You've got to move fast, last we could tell before it dropped off our sensors, it was heading for your landing zone!_"

"Shit!" I non-eloquently finished, looking at Dimitri. "Gun it!"

And gun it he did. We went from doing 40mph to well over 60, flying over hills so fast that he had been forced to use the built-in thrusters to keep us from rolling over. Before we knew it, an armed shuttle soared overhead, firing down at us.

"Piss off!" Dan shouted from the copula, throwing his helmet off and firing wildly at the shuttle while we were on the move. He pierced the kinetic barriers, hitting one of the engines before it limped off ahead of us.

"He must be looking for a place to intercept us." I theorized, looking up into the copula at Dan. "Keep your eyes open, they might have missile launchers.

He nodded in acknowledgement to me as the comm crackled again, this time from our ship.

"_Where are you guys?! We need to get out of here!_" Greg shouted through static, as thumps of cannon fire could be heard in the background. "_We've got hostiles on us, and we can't use our GUARDANs in atmosphere!_"

"We're almost there, we had a run-in of our own!" I replied, quickly pulling the mouthpiece closer before the communications suddenly cut out on us. "Greg? Greg?!"

I had no idea of knowing what was happening for several moments. Less than a mile away from the landing zone we felt an earth-shattering vibration go through the earth beneath us, even while on the move.

"That felt like a ship crash landing." Watterson remarked from the back, a look of dread clearly seen on his face.

"Or exploding." Sterling somberly added, sending a tinge of fear through me as we rolled over the final hill.

Watterson was right. The Cerberus frigate that had attempted to slip past the _Idenna_ could clearly be seen lodged in a nearby mountain, flames visible even from this distance covering most of the ship. They didn't expect the _Explorer_ to be equipped with turrets, and paid the price for trying to make a pass at her.

The battle was certainly not over, though. Two shuttles were flying below the range of the _Explorer_'s cannons as both them and the ground troops they had dropped off fired on the ship with heavy weapons. They hadn't spotted us yet.

"Dan, focus on the shuttles! Dimi… run the little bastards down." I ordered, lowering my voice as Dimitri nodded. He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, going even faster than before as the troops ahead finally took notice of us.

Dimitri drove straight for the largest group, five foot soldiers. As two of them dove out of the way, the other three attempted to level their heavy weapons at us. They weren't quick enough, and we plowed into them. Even through all of the Mako's armor, I could hear sickening thuds as one of them splattered on the windshield and the other two got crushed by the massive wheels. The other squad attempted to make a run for a nearby group of rocks for safety, but they weren't fast enough. They met the same crunchy fate as the other squad.

Dan leveled his fire at the two shuttles, focusing on the one he had already damaged. Aiming for the same spot, he finally succeeded in knocking out one of their engines and sending the craft into an uncontrollable spin. It crashed into a nearby cliff face, exploding moments later as the second shuttle retaliated. It fired on us with heavy cannons, nearly taking down our barriers before Dan lucked out and placed a 155mm round directly through the cockpit window. It soared towards us, nearly crashing into the Mako before coming to a stop in the snow.

Before we could turn around and finish the job, one of the two surviving soldiers hit us directly with a missile launcher. It knocked all of us to the left side of the Mako, along with Dan who fell out of the cupola with a gash on the side of his head.

"мать засранец!" Dimitri shouted in native Russian as sparks flew from one of the interior panels near his head, forcing him to cover his face as the Mako slammed into one of the larger rocks.

"Oh god, we're gonna die!" Kaznyk screamed in a panic as I quickly ran over to Dan to see if he was alright. He had been knocked cold from the impact with the inside of the cupola, but was still breathing as far as I could tell.

Before anything else could happen, there was another explosion outside, but not near us. I ignored it for the moment, applying some medi-gel to Dan's head before pulling myself into the cupola to get a better look outside.

I saw Greg and Lenlo standing in the open hanger bay, shooting down at the surviving two troopers. Greg was using a grenade launcher of some sort, sending large clouds of snow into the air as Lenlo fired on them with an M-15 Vindicator. A few seconds later, the gunfire stopped as both soldiers laid dead.

"_You guys alright in there?_" Greg called out on his omni-tool, looking down at us.

"Jesus Christ, you guys are a sight for sore eyes!" I replied back as Dimitri pulled himself back into his chair as gave the engines some more life. "Thanks!"

"_Forget thanking me, let's just get the hell out of here!_" He quickly dismissed, running back into the hanger as we rolled inside with a heavy clunk.

We wasted no time sealing everything up again and getting everyone out of the Mako. I quickly assigned Kirva and Lenlo to watch our "guests" while Dimitri and I carried Dan up to the infirmary as carefully as we possibly could.

"My God, what happened?" Lydia asked in a shocked tone from the nearby projector as we placed him into the automated ICU.

"Slammed his head into the interior of the Mako, then fell out of the cupola." I answered, quickly pulling off his chest plate so the scanner could get a better reading. "Quickly, do a cranial scan."

She nodded silently, running the machine for a few moments before looking back to us. Her face told us everything we didn't want to know before she had even begun speaking.

"He has a concussion, along with a… hairline fracture in the parietal bone below the surface of the laceration. His brain impacted on the left hemisphere, knocking him cold." She diagnosed, sounding understandably shaken as she spoke. "He'll wake up and heal with a few stitches… but I have no way of knowing what kind of short or long-term damage this will result in."

She stared into space for a few moments, as if examining a book before making eye contact with us again.

"Please leave. I have delicate work to do." She ordered in a domineering voice, actually surprising me as we both left the room without another word.

Once outside of the med bay, the stress of the situation finally rolled over, culminating in me indiscriminately kicking the hell out of the nearby cabinets in a blind rage. It took Dimitri pulling me away by my shoulders before I finally realized what I was doing.

"You need to take control of yourself!" Dimitri shouted at me in his booming voice, making me think deep down that he was about to sock me in the face. "This is not what crew needs!"

"The only crew I care about right now is him!" I shouted back at the tower of a man, beginning to lose myself again. "Why is it I'm always the one who has to be calm, the one who always makes these fucking decisions?! I never wanted to do this, I never even wanted to leave Reach! Now look what's happened!"

I threw myself against the wall as tears streamed down my face, my emotional state overwhelmed.

"Sean, your job is one no man or woman ever wants, but it is one that is necessary." He rationalized after allowing me to vent for a minute, crouching down next to me with a look of pity clearly etched on his face. "You cannot give up on us. We need you."

I sucked my gut in, forcing my breathing back to normal as I wiped the tears out of my eyes. I stared forward for a few moments before looking back up at him.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry." I apologized, letting myself sigh in the face of everything. "It's just… difficult. Being in charge of so many people, seeing them hurt, my own best friend… it's beyond demoralizing."

Dimitri silently nodded in acknowledgement, standing back up and offering me his hand. I accepted it, getting pulled back on my feet.

"We are all here for you, Sean." He said, giving me a heavy-handed pat on the shoulder as I forced myself to smile.

He was right. I had to be a good example for my crew. It's what they deserved.

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 14th, 4:31 PM, 2184

…

I walked into the hanger where Kirva and Lenlo sat, seeing our four defectors sitting quietly in the back of the hanger. Our ship lacked any holding facilities, something I hadn't expected to ever need. The most we had was a corner of the room with a few stools where they sat under the watchful eye of my crewmates. Only now that we were out of harm's way did I have the time to focus on the features of each of these people.

Watterson was an older-looking African-American man with a closely trimmed haircut that had begun greying. His face was filled with developing wrinkles which had the effect of making him look much older than I believed he was.

Kaznyk was a younger woman who appeared to be of Asian descent, with jet-black hair that reached her shoulders. She wore glasses, something that was considered a rarity these days, and held herself in a way that made her look small and nervous.

Sterling was a good-looking man with a crop of brown hair that was very carefully styled, and I knew from his accent that he came from somewhere in the British Isles. I could tell just from looking at his face that he was exhausted.

I had already memorized the features of Lawson's face during our brief confrontation, and didn't need to focus on it for much else. What struck me was that she didn't sit with the other three, further supporting my theory that she had defected for completely different reasons.

As I walked over, they went silent and tracked me with curious, yet cautious eyes.

"I got you guys some MREs, figured you might need something to eat after everything that happened." I explained, walking past Kirva and Lenlo and handing the three of them each one Meal, Ready to Eat pack. They were military field rations that had changed surprisingly little since their introduction in 1981.

"Beef and Cheese, huh?" Watterson read off in a joking manner before shaking his head with a smile. "Last I read, these things could kill you."

"Maybe if you were a serviceman back in the nineteen-nineties." I dismissed, allowing myself to crack a smile. "Nowadays, it's more along the lines of… bad cooking."

"Bad cooking can still kill you." Sterling added, ripping open his MRE and removing the disposable plastic packs.

"I'd eat up while you can, we'll be at Arcturus in less than an hour and I have no idea what the food is like there." I finished, gazing at Miranda who looked as if she hadn't even noticed me.

I walked over to her, handing her the last MRE as she gave me a look that seemed to consist of nothing but silent annoyance and contempt.

"You know, for someone who wanted to defect, you sure don't seem too grateful." I said, shooting her the stink eye as I prepared to walk away. Before I could, however, she spoke up.

"I know who you are now." She spoke up, causing me to turn around and face her. "Dr. Sean Michaels, former member of Task Force Cerebellum and co-creator of the Nemo-Michaels reactor system… hard to believe you'd come to the rescue of people who you despise."

"Implying I had a choice." I remarked with thinly-veiled sarcasm, leaning against a crate as I focused entirely on her. "Tell me, you seem like one of the "spook" types… if you really are serious about leaving your organization, then why don't you tell me why Cerberus has such a hard-on for my crew?"

Of course, I already knew Cerberus's motives behind why they wanted us, me and Dan in particular. The question was, would she tell me the truth, make up something completely different, or outright refuse to tell me anything? Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for my question to be answered. She narrowed her eyes on me before crossing her legs and leaning towards me.

"I'm pretty sure you already know why." She shot back, eyes like daggers. "I know you were on The Barn, and were involved partially in its destruction."

She knew about our Spatial Distortion Device project, that much was established. Still, I was willing to call her bluff.

"Unfortunately, we weren't told much while we were there." I lied, maintaining my relaxed posture as I kept as neutral of a tone both vocally and physically as I could. "Like I said, if you're really serious about permanently defecting and resuming work on Project Lazarus under our banner, you shouldn't have any problem giving me a little information."

That got her attention real fast. She broke her eye contact with me, closing her eyes and sighing before looking back up at me with a friendlier expression.

"Cerberus is interested in you and your partner, Dr. Daniel Nemo, because of a project you two supposedly worked on many years ago called the Spatial Distortion Device. I don't know what the device was supposed to do, but do know The Illusive Man was very interested in it." She began to explain as I held back the urge to smile at my successful ruse. "He attempted to have this thing built back in 2178, but because the engineers and physicists he chose didn't have the same in-depth theoretical calculations that you two developed… well, let's just say it didn't work."

"Please elaborate." I asked in a deadpan, wanting to know exactly what she meant by this.

"According to the reports I've been able to read, when they attempted to use the device, it ended up creating a neutron explosion powerful enough to kill anything within a fourteen-mile radius and level the entire facility." She answered, actually causing my eyebrows to shoot up.

"Hot damn, I didn't think you could screw it up that badly." I shook my head, allowing myself a huff of amusement. "I hope they aren't planning on building any more of them."

"I doubt it." She responded, sounding far more genuine. "The destruction of both devices and their facilities has totaled over nine-billion credits. The Illusive Man shut down the Tartarus Cell indefinitely and had its resources liquidated three months ago."

I was mildly surprised that I was not only getting information out of her, but information that I hadn't known before. It was frightening to know that Cerberus had already tried building our SDD before and to such disasterous consequences, but I felt a little better knowing that it wasn't likely to be worked on again anytime soon.

"So, you don't actually know what the device does, huh?" I questioned, focusing on her eyes again.

"No, all the files pertaining to the project were isolated from all other cells." She answered without any hint of dishonesty in her voice. "All I know is that it had something to do with supercharged particle fields."

"Well, since you've been nice enough to answer my questions, I don't see any harm in telling you what it was supposed to do." I started, knowing there was nothing I could tell her about it that could be used against us. "Our Spatial Distortion Device was designed with the express purpose of creating traversable wormholes that could go anywhere in the universe. Almost like a teleporter, but capable of so much more."

This resulted in something that I hadn't actually expected to see from her. A look of genuine surprise.

"What? How is that even possible?" She asked, now looking at me with severe doubt.

"Well… maybe I'll tell you further down the line." I denied, not wanting to push the boundaries of this "relationship" too hard in any direction. "Anyways, eat up. We'll be at Arcturus soon."

With the conversation finished, I nodded to Lenlo and Kirva as I walked by, bouncing around this new data in my noggin. If she knew this much, I couldn't even imagine how much more she could tell us and the Alliance. I was still reluctant to work with her in any capacity, and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to secure her release. If she did end up above Reach, I'd have to keep a very close eye on her.

She knew a lot more than she was letting on. I could feel it in my gut.

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 14th, 5:25 PM, 2184

…

I sat in the med bay, watching my best friend lay there without any movement other than light breathing as I awaited the call that we were approaching Arcturus. Despite everything Dimitri said and all the obvious facts in front of me, I still couldn't help but blame myself for what had happened to him.

Dan laid there, face completely blank and upper head wrapped in a thick bandage. There was a large bruise forming on the left side of his face from the impact, along with swelling. Lydia was extremely angry with Dimitri and I. She blamed me in particular for allowing this to happen, and I couldn't help but agree with her to some extent.

In reality, this wouldn't have happened if Dan had kept his helmet on during combat like he was supposed to, but the idea of blaming him for anything right now was too much to handle. I was hoping he might regain consciousness before we docked at Arcturus, but that wasn't likely to happen.

I heard the door to the med bay open, revealing Biss who was still carrying himself in the same, shy manner.

"Captain s-sir, we'll be within communications range of Arcturus in four minutes." He informed as I stood up from my stool and slowly walked over.

"Well, I suppose you and I should get up to the bridge." I said, stopping in front of him. "Let's go."

"Yes sir." He quickly agreed, following up behind me.

"So Biss, how was your first real combat experience?" I asked without looking back as we walked the stairs up to the next deck.

"Being honest, sir, it was terrifying." He answered, nearly shuttering as he spoke. "I thought that ship was going to crash into us with how low it was flying."

"Well, I heard you handled yourself very well during it all, and I wanted to personally tell you that I'm proud of you." I remarked, stopping and putting my hand on his shoulder. "As soon as we're finished with our mission here, I'm immediately going to pull together some resources and organize that research assignment you wanted."

"Really?" He responded in near disbelief before straightening up his posture and giving me a salute. "I-I mean, thank your sir!"

"Your welcome Biss." I finished, exiting the stairwell with a bit more levity in my chest.

Inside the bridge, Greg, Sira, and Dimitri were already here. I quickly made eye contact and nodded to each one of them before taking a seat in my chair.

"Are we within range yet?" I asked, leaning backwards in my chair as anticipated the moment we could see the station.

"We're getting close, shouldn't be much… wait, there it is." Sira answered from the communications console. "We've established contact. Should I send our access codes?"

"Do it, then open up a line with one of the operators." I quickly ordered, watching the outside view as I opened up my line with Mal and Weir. "We've begun transmitting the access codes, stay close so they don't get confused."

I got acknowledgment blinks on my screen from the two ships as a large object became visible in the distance.

Arcturus Station was big. Nowhere near the size of the Citadel, but still an impressive feat of engineering. Its main section was a Stanford-torus type structure that spun to produce gravity while four long docking lanes protruded outwards. These lanes were in constant use as a fleet's worth of traffic moved to and from the station at any given time. They were also used for the bulk of the Alliance's shipbuilding efforts.

In addition to Hackett's Fifth Fleet which was stationed here, the entire station was defended by a complex series of GARDAN arrays and Mass Accelerator cannons. Various sensor nets were in place to detect any possible ships trying to slip through unnoticed, and I was betting that their internal security force was staffed by the finest soldiers in the Alliance Navy.

All in all, I think I could relax to a reasonable degree while here.

"_MFV Explorer, this is Alliance Control_." The communications console crackled, drawing my attention back to the bridge. "_We have received your access codes. Priority docking has been authorized. Please procced to Docking Bay 39. The SSV Thermopylae and MFV Idenna will dock in bays 40 and 42. A security team will meet you._"

"Thank you, Alliance Control." Sira finished, taking in a deep breath as she sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. "I need a vacation."

"Heh, don't we all." I joked, getting Greg and Dimitri to smile as we pulled into Bay 39. The clamps secured our ship with a solid clunk as a cradle extended out from the station to our airlock.

We left the bridge, seeing Lenlo and Kirva had no trouble getting Sterling, Lawson, Watterson, and Kaznyk up here. They were all lined up, hands secured with stun cuffs.

"Alright… we'll be handing you all over to Alliance Intelligence once we're over there." I addressed, looking at each one of them. "Just do what they say and answer their questions. I'll let them know you came willingly and without protest to make things a bit easier."

"I appreciate it." Sterling said as I nodded my head to him.

"OK, let's get moving." I ordered, walking into the airlock first as they followed up behind me. Dimitri, Sira, Kirva, and Lenlo stayed in the back to make sure nothing funny happened. Richard was staying on the ship to keep an eye on Dan.

Not a word was spoken as the cycle came and went, finishing to open the outer airlock and reveal the long cradle hallway. Unlike other ones I've seen, these had windows that gave you a good view of the stars outside. I glanced at them as we walked, resisting the urge to stop and gawk.

Once on the other end, we were greeted by a squad of eight Alliance marines in full combat gear and an officer wearing a slightly more casual version of their dress blues.

"Captain Michaels, good to meet you." He greeted, giving me a firm handshake without breaking eye contact. "I'm Lieutenant Barnes, I've been assigned to handle the defectors from this point forward."

"Understood. They didn't cause any trouble, so I wouldn't worry about them trying anything." I finished, standing aside as they all walked to the other side. "I hope to see you all again someday, hopefully with cleaner records and Alliance uniforms."

They all walked off, Miranda peering back at me through the corner of her eye as they walked away. I knew what she was thinking, but I needed more time to think on everything before risking everything we've accomplished to let her work on Project Lazarus.

"Well, I suppose I should go with them, make sure the exchange goes smoothly on both ends." Greg stated, putting his hand into his coat pocket and pulling out several credit chits. "Hackett knew you'd be here without any money, so he pulled together some basic funds so you can buy some food or products while we're here."

"I thought I was going to be allowed to request supplies?" I questioned with some confusion, remembering the deal I had made with the man.

"You still are." He corrected in a deadpan, handing each of us one of the chits. "These are for personal use, and are an extra thank you for your service to the Alliance. See you guys later."

As he walked off, I stared at the credit chit in my hand, small ideas going through my head before I focused on one.

"You guys wanna go grab a pint?" I asked as I turned around to face them. They all got amused looks on their faces, looking to one another before nodding.

"Sounds like good plan." Dimitri agreed with a smile as we began walking.

Another awful day in the life of a ship captain. Beer was only a coping mechanism, and one I was wise enough not to abuse. I would be praying for Dan's health until the end of the day, and hoped he might be able to join us before the end of our time here on the station.

…

**A/N: Lots of things are happening, and everything is moving at a million miles per hour. We still have no idea if Miranda and the other scientist are genuine about everything, but that's for another day. Sean has politics to deal with now, and he's not looking forward to it one bit. The future is uncertain, but let's hope it's a bright one.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	40. Impend

…

"Silence is a source of great strength."

(Lao Tzu)

…

Arcturus Station, October 15th, 5:56 AM, 2184

…

I felt all stress roll off me as I floated around peacefully in a zero-g therapy chamber, listening to Prophet Suite from the Halo 2 Anniversary soundtrack on repeat. While this normally would have been reserved for paying customers, Hackett granted us special access to the station's amenities during the duration of our stay. I had decided earlier yesterday to come here, and came very early in the morning so I wouldn't have to share it with anyone.

Being in zero gravity gave way to odd sensations. The loss of weight makes you feel as if you're floating in an ocean, but without the feeling of water on your skin. The lack of a reference point when your eyes are shut can give one the feeling as if they're falling forever. If I thought about it for too long, I got a hypnic jerk in the back of my brain. It was the same sensation one felt when "falling" in a dream.

After sleeping off the beer and two shots of Vodka I had guzzled down yesterday with my friends, we had all walked the length of the station. It had been me, Sira, Kirva, and Lenlo's first time seeing the place, and despite it being much smaller and less opulent than the Presidium, it was still impressive. Its overall design reminded me an awful lot of Arundel Mills Mall from back home, but then again that was probably the alcohol in my system talking at the time.

I opened my eyes again as the music shifted to the next part, examining the padded walls and all the little fabric handles that jutted outwards from their surfaces. Something about the pattern reminded me of a dream, but which one I wasn't sure of. There were very few dreams I could remember in detail, and even fewer that I could remember at all. I could only remember one in full detail.

It was long ago back in 2013. I dreamt that I was a medical doctor in a science fiction space asylum of some kind, likely an orbital installation. On the station were the criminally insane of every shape and color, and my colleague was this older woman in her fifties who I was friends with. Before anything else could happen, the main power shut off, the red emergency lights went on, and shouting could be heard in the distance as the patients escaped.

The nameless woman quickly pulled me over to a cabinet of some kind, forcing me under so that I wouldn't be seen. Before I knew it, these people were tearing open the door, rushing in and beating this poor woman to death while all I could do was lay there and watch. Blood covered the floor as she fell to the floor, dead. They ran back off, leaving me to whimper like a child as her cold, dead eyes stared back at me.

What had marked this one dream for me was how real it felt. It had filled me with genuine fear and terror, leaving me covered in sweat and heart beating as if I had run a marathon. I had never had a dream that intense until after Dan and I "jumped" here. Now my dreams all felt like horror movies.

I hated it. I wanted to have dreams like the old days where I was a SPARTAN-II from Halo or flying over various cities like Superman. I feared that those dreams may never happen again.

My thoughts were thrown into disarray as my omni-tool began ironically playing the theme song from Kelly's Heroes, "Burning Bridges." Greg was calling me, likely with news on the defectors.

"Yes?" I asked as I opened the call, still floating calmly in the same spot.

"_Sean, I recently just got out of the holding facilities with the detailed reports of each of our new friend's backgrounds and specialties._" He explained as I continued to stare into space. "_Would you like me to give you the general rundown? I know you were interested in this particular matter_."

"Sure." I agreed, closing my eyes as I braced myself for any possible surprises.

"_Alright, let me see…_" He began as I could hear papers being shuffled in the background. "_OK, first off is Nathan Sterling. He was a graduate of Oxford University who worked for the Sirta Foundation before being acquired by Cerberus in 2182. He works in the field of genetics_."

"Hackett mentioned before that he was linked to their biological warfare division." I recalled, looking down at my omni-tool out of habit.

"_I'm getting to that_." He held off, pausing for a moment before going on. "_Cerberus apparently brought him on to work on some kind of discriminating neurotoxin that would be used against the Turians, but he had a change of heart, holding off on his work in various ways until an escape opportunity presented itself. He's the one that convinced all these other people to come with him._"

"Sounds quite romantic." I remarked in a disconnected, mocking manner as I shook my head in disappointment. "Who's next?"

"_Well, next would be Johnathan Sadler_." He said as more paper shuffling could be heard. "_He went to the University of Auckland, specializing in mechanical engineering. From the records we could dig up, he previously worked for Hyundai Heavy Industries doing shipbuilding._"

"Hyundai is still around after all this time?" I questioned out loud before quickly shaking my head. "Uh, never mind that. Who do we have next on our list?"

"_That… would be Luciano Keller._" He continued as I gave myself a small spin in the weightlessness around me. "_He went to the… Technical University of Munich. From what I can tell, his work is relatively benign. He's a computer engineer that helped maintain the systems aboard Minuteman Station. Used to be Alliance R&amp;D._"

"Hm… I'd keep an eye on him." I said in a lower tone, knowing that those who had any possible military experience were suspect.

"_Next on the list is Mineko Kaznyk._" He went on, speaking slightly slower as to not butcher her name. "_She's an undergraduate from Meiji University, specializing in molecular biology. She was apparently brought on to work on new, more experimental forms of gene therapy_."

"Unregulated gene therapy is illegal, right?" I asked, unable to remember whether it was or not.

"_To be honest, it's more of a legal grey area._" He said with what I could only guess was a shrug. "_The Alliance passed the Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act in 2161 to control the development of certain treatments, but that only applies in our space. Citadel law only really outlaws the creation of new forms of life._"

"So they could have had her working on just about anything." I sighed, closing my eyes again as I felt a sense of vertigo. "Three more left, correct?"

"_Yes, next here is Hans Gastwirt. He went to the University of Munich, and is a physician. He previously worked at Jump Zero during the duration of the BAaT program._" He continued, starting to sound slightly more tired.

"I've heard that acronym before… what is BAaT?" I questioned, remembering one of the conversations I had in the past with Hendel Mirta aboard the _Idenna_.

"_It stands for Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. It was an early training program set up for the first generation of human biotics_." He answered, the puzzle pieces snapping together in my head. "_I don't blame you for not knowing about it, the Alliance classified most of the documents related to the program after it ended in 2169._"

I sighed, knowing there must have been a good reason why this was kept off public record. I switched my musical track over to Marconi Union's "Weightless" as I formulated my next thought.

"So he worked with biotics while our understanding of the field was still limited. Good to know." I nodded, knowing I still wasn't quite qualified to make any judgements on the subject. "Next?"

"_James Watterson._" He stated, sighing on his end for a few moments. "_He was taught at Colorado State University, works primarily in astrophysics fields. Cerberus had him working on… element zero applications and dark energy theory._"

I let out a "hmf" of approval, crossing my arms as I let my eyebrows go up. He sounded interesting.

"_I think you already know who's last._" Greg said, calling back both my attention and my memories from yesterday.

"Nitty gritty, same as the other six." I pushed on, wanting to make sure I had the full overview.

"_Miranda Lawson. She's the one we have little to no information about_." He began as I recalled the shape of her face. "_So, according to what she's told us herself, she was raised privately by Henry Lawson, owner of Signus Geneworks until she ran off to join Cerberus. After that, her father pulled his support for the organization and she became one of their agents._"

"Of all the groups she could have gone to, why Cerberus?" I asked out loud, letting a large puff of air out of my lungs.

"_She was unwilling to divulge that information. She states that she had various personal reasons for doing so, and ended our line of inquiry._" He finished, the fatigue in his voice blatantly obvious by this point.

"I appreciate the update, Greg." I thanked, giving myself a push though the chamber to the padded wall. "Go get some sleep, you sound like you need it."

"_You don't have to tell me twice. See you later._" He cut the line, leaving me once again with nothing in my ears but my music.

I pulled myself across the walls back to the entrance, feeling drop in my stomach as I entered artificial gravity once again. I shook my head as I felt the weight on my body, feeling a little jelly-legged for a few moments. I waved to the owner as I walked out, looking at the central Alliance Parliament tower through the skylight.

This was going to be a long day. I could feel it in my gut.

…

Arcturus Station, October 15th, 11:12 AM, 2184

…

"No, listen, I'm telling you this ID was issued by Hackett himself!" I argued with the marine at the entrance of Arcturus Station's holding facilities. "Level 5 Access! Full authorization!"

"Sir, I can't let you inside until the ID is fully registered in our systems. I told you it could take a few hours." He repeated as I slacked my shoulders and rolled my eyes. "Those are the rules."

"Yeah, the Alliance and their goddamn rules…" I exclaimed, forcing a sigh out as I stormed back off though the hallways. I stopped at the tram station, opening my omni-tool with barely restrained frustration.

I had come down here looking to get some more in-depth, one-on-one information from our seven new "friends", but without any other form of authorization I was unable to get in to see them.

"Richard, any change in his condition yet?" I asked on my private line, connecting directly to him.

"_There's been heightened brain activity over the past two hours, though I think he still needs more rest before he's ready to wake up._" He answered honestly without any bullshit. "_How'd your meeting go?_"

"The committee meeting isn't until twelve, and my ID still isn't registered to access the holding facility." I answered just as bluntly, hearing the whine of metal in the distance as the tram neared closer. "So yeah, nothing yet."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck." He finished, cutting the connection as the tram came into view, coming to a stop in front of me. Two MPs dragged a disgruntled marine past me as I boarded the transport, finding a seat all to myself near the back.

The committee meeting involved a few members of the Alliance Parliament who would be debating me, the ambassador, and Captain Mal about how we wanted to handle this entire situation. Since elements of the Human-Quarian Coalition had been jointly involved in the effort to capture these defecting scientists, we had just as much of a say in what would happen with them as they did.

My personal thoughts were still muddled with bias and uncertainties. While one half of me wanted to bring them back to Reach and have them put to work, the other half wanted to never see them again, to banish them from my memory. It was part of the reason why I had tried to get in and talk to them again.

I needed to get a personal feel for the other six before I could cement my judgement.

All of this was leaving me with quite the headache. I was going to have to make a judgement call during the meeting, and it was less than an hour away.

I casually looked at the faces around me, judging them as the lights around the tram flickered slightly as we crossed through another tunnel. It was mostly off-duty Alliance personnel wearing their standard crew uniforms, though there were a few civilians who either worked here or were waiting for their ships to be refueled.

One face out of all of them stuck out to me. It was a man who, like me, sat by himself. He appeared to be of Chinese descent, and had long black hair that shrouded half of his face. He sat there with this empty, cold look on his face before raising his head slightly and turning to immediately meet my gaze.

The man had some of the deadest eyes I had ever seen. I could only keep my gaze locked with his for a second before I forced myself to break off. It shook me to my core. I barely kept myself relaxed, suddenly feeling a primal urge to get away from this person as soon as possible.

I got out at the next station, putting some distance between me and the tram before looking back. He was still sitting there in the same spot, but I immediately felt my blood go cold as I saw his gaze still locked on me. The doors to the tram closed, speeding away from my sight.

I couldn't describe what had just happened, other than the fact that I now felt much better knowing that man was gone.

…

Half an Hour Later…

…

After going back to the _Explorer_ and putting on the nice suit I had bought earlier in the day, I was making my way up the central tower of Arcturus station. The elevator ride was very quiet and long, much like it had been back on the Citadel.

My suit was decidedly official, with full rolled cuffs, a simple white long point collar, and a nicely-padded blue button up. Its design was odd by my old-timey standards, but the dresser had reassured me this was "the" professional look of the now.

Despite looking good in them, I always hated suits. I found them restricting, lacking in warmth and versatility. The part of my getup I hated the most was the dress shoes. I was a diehard fan of my military surplus boots, loving the heavy footfalls and extra grip characteristic of them. Wearing these things bothered me to no end.

The elevator came to a stop at the 78th floor of the tower, revealing a small lobby that doubled as a waiting area. The first thing I noticed was Mal talking to another quarian who I immediately realized was the Admiralty Board's chosen ambassador. It had occurred to me in that moment that I didn't know who they had sent as their ambassador to Arcturus. I didn't even have a name.

"Captain Sean Michaels, MFV _Explorer_." I greeted the receptionist, handing her my ID. "I'm here for the twelve 'o'clock meeting."

"Thank you, Captain." The older woman accepted, handing the ID back to me. "The meeting will begin in a few minutes. Please wait over there."

I nodded in confirmation, slipping the ID back into my pocket as I walked over to Mal and the ambassador. She wore one of the brand-new envirosuits, well-adorned with layers of beautiful, decorative fabrics that had white swirls against a purple background. The moment I focused in those swirls, I immediately realized who it was. It was Admiral Zorah's daughter, Tali.

"Hey there, Michaels." Mal greeted, shaking hands with me before the two of us turned to her. "I assume you've met Tali before?"

"We met once to decipher some information on his ship." She answered as we both shook hands. "It's good to see you again, Captain."

"Likewise, ma'am." I replied, allowing myself to crack a smile. "I didn't know you were the one they sent to Arcturus."

"Well, Raan and my father figured I was the best pick for the position due to the time I spent aboard the _Normandy_." She said, bowing her head slightly. "It's not the first job I would have chosen, but it's the one I was best suited for."

"Speaking of suit, how's the Mark IV working out for you?" I prodded, pointing out the new envirosuit she was wearing. "My friend Richard worked hard on their design features."

"It fits very well, I must say." She answered, spinning herself around so that I could see the entirety of the suit. "It's much more efficient than my old suit, and can handle my programs much more efficiently."

"Well, I'll have to let Richard know that it's being well received." I smiled, looking back at the elevator as it opened, revealing Greg and Captain Weir who were both wearing Alliance dress blues.

"Michaels, what's your opinion on the whole situation?" Mal asked, bringing back my conflicted thoughts again. "Since you've met these people, I assume you have some idea of how they are."

"For the most part they seem alright, but I have my doubts about two of them." I replied, shaking my head as I looked at both him and Tali. "While I think bringing them to Reach and having them put to work would be plausible idea, I'm not sure the Alliance will agree with me."

"Why would you want them moved to Reach of all places?" Mal questioned with obvious confusion.

"Well, their backgrounds suggest that they could be useful if put back to work." I argued, focusing on him. "They all have experience in fields that we could help us greatly in the long run."

"But how can you be sure that they're not infiltrators of some kind?" Mal shot back, the attack on the _Idenna_ still fresh in his mind. It was perfectly reasonable for him to be worried about Cerberus infiltration.

"Well, there's always going to be a risk involved." I shrugged, allowing myself to look back at Greg and Weir who were walking this way. "Hello gentlemen."

Greg simply sighed in response, fatigue still in his eyes as Weir shook hands with the three of us.

"You'll have to excuse him, he's still half asleep." Weir joked, allowing himself to crack a smile as he folded his hands behind his back.

"I forgot to ask earlier, did your guests behave on the way over here?" I inquired, focusing on his strong, blue eyes, a genetic trait that was exceedingly rare these days.

"They were pretty civil for a bunch of Cerberus pukes, I admit." He answered, looking at the door that led to the committee chamber as he spoke. "Maybe they are the trustworthy types, who knows?"

"Only time will tell." I finished as a woman came from the chamber and called us all in.

The chamber was simple. In it was a podium in the center where the three reps from the Alliance Parliament would sit, while we stood in front of them. The only other thing that stood out in the room was the large window behind them that gave a great view of the Fifth Fleet.

"This meeting is now in session." The woman in the center of the podium announced, tapping a display to her side. Likely starting a video or audio recording of some kind. "So… seven Cerberus defectors in the middle of our conflict. Things just keep getting more interesting as they days go on."

"Yes, we've debriefed all of these individuals over the last twelve hours, and frankly we're still not sure whether to charge them with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization, or simply have them dumped out into space." The older man on the left mused, rubbing his chin. "Captain Michaels, we've been informed that you have another suggestion for us, given you and the Quarian's role in their capture."

"I do." I accepted, taking a few steps forward. "In the interest of mutual cooperation, I believe having them transported to Reach and having them work in our facilities would be the best course of action."

"And what does sending these traitors to Quarian space accomplish?" The younger-looking man to the right shot out, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"If we move them to our space, give them work that they're comfortable with, it'll allow us to further monitor them an discern any possible motives." I argued, speaking as clearly as I could. "If we believe that they truly aren't who they say they are, we'll have them detained and brought back to the Alliance."

"Plus, due to the isolated nature of the Klenot system, making any escape attempts will be impossible." Mal added, walking up to my side.

"Ambassador Zorah, does the Admiralty share Captain Michael's views on the matter?" The woman in the middle asked, looking over at her.

"We've already begun moving materials over to our system piece by piece after our successful attack of Minuteman Station. If Captain Michaels believes they can be relied on, then I concur." She answered, hands folded neatly behind her back.

"I can't believe we're considering handing them over." The man to the right said in a lower tone, sounding much more annoyed. "We've got all the facilities needed to squeeze any information out of them we want, and you want to offer those people jobs."

"I'm never one to waste a good opportunity, sir." I shot back, causing him to glare at me.

"Either way, it won't be decided now." The woman hushed, staring daggers at the other man. "If we do agree to this however, can you promise us that any research they work on is sent our way?"

"I'm sure I can arrange that, ma'am." Greg said with a raised hand, still looking very much tired. "We've got a steady stream of information going, and I don't think working something out will-"

He was suddenly cut off as the woman's omni-tool began beeping furiously, putting an immediate end to the conversation. My eyebrows shot up in confusion as I looked at Greg and Weir who appeared just as bewildered.

"Oh no… we've got to cut this short." She announced to the surprise of the other two committee members, her face suddenly much paler than normal. "This session is dismissed."

"Oh no, you're not going to throw me out of the loop that easily!" I yelled up at her as I pointed my finger. "What just happened? What's suddenly so important?"

She stood there for a second, staring at me before responding.

"Follow me." She said in a deadened tone, hitting the display one more time before we all piled out of the room.

…

Eight Minutes Later

…

We all walked as fast as we could, nearly in a run as we followed the woman. Her name, I had discovered, was Serin Kreg. She was a senior member of the Alliance Parliament, one of the ones who had been there since the beginning. Not a word was spoken as all five of us followed her to the holding facilities I had attempted to enter earlier in the day.

The implications of this sent a rock to the bottom of my stomach.

"Serin, Level 5." She announced to the marine in charge out here, quickly flashing her ID. We were immediately ushered inside much to the commotion of several medical personnel rushing past.

I didn't have to look far to see the thing I had dreaded most. Lots of blood, and the body of Sterling on the ground, staring blankly up at us.

"Son of a bitch." I cursed quietly, turning around and clutching my forehead for a few moments before speaking again. "When did this happen?"

"Roughly twenty minutes ago." She answered, kneeling down next to the edge of the holographic line that had been put up. "Two of them are dead."

I looked over at the other side of the line, seeing Miranda laid out on a stretcher. I could see from the movement of her chest that she was still breathing, but even from here she looked like she was in bad shape.

"What happened, sergeant?" I asked, looking at the man in charge down here.

"According to the woman over there said before she passed out, a Cerberus assassin broke into the holding cells with the intent of killing her and all the others. He killed two of them before she was able to intervene." He answered bluntly. "One of my men say they saw another person in the hallway, but we have no way of confirming it."

"Cameras were disabled, too." One of the other men quipped, who was leaning down and examining the body.

"Who was killed?" Greg asked in a somber tone, completely awake after our run.

"Sterling and… Keller." The sergeant answered, sending my heart plummeting even further.

"Fuck!" Greg yelled, storming off back through the entrance as I sighed and shut my eyes.

It was hard to believe that Sterling was dead. The man who I had talked to less than 24 hours ago was on the ground dead in front of me, murdered. Cerberus wasn't going to let this go, that much had been established.

That's when it dawned on me. The man I had spotted on the tram earlier.

"Sergeant, you said the cameras inside the holding area were disabled, correct?" I asked as he nodded his head. "I want you to go through the video records of the tram security footage. Look for an Asian man with long, dark hair. I think he might be their murderer."

"That's awfully specific, don't you think?" Weir commented, looking understandably confused.

"Just do it." I ordered, looking back at Serin. "Listen, I'm know we both have our own motives here, but these people need to be moved to our system immediately. It's the only place where they're going to be safe."

She nodded with understandable reluctance, pursing her lips as I walked over the line, bending over and closing Sterling's eyes. I allowed myself a moment of silence before getting back up and walking off.

I should have known this was going to happen, I should have been able to see the signs. But I didn't. The simple fact that I hadn't argued for more security made me feel like the biggest fuckup in the galaxy. Two of these people were dead, and if that woman, Miranda, hadn't been here to hold him off all of them would be dead.

All of it made me feel like rolling up into a ball and crying. If I didn't have everything else happening around me, I'd down a whole bottle of whiskey without a second thought. I knew that deep down there was nothing I could have done otherwise, but I still felt responsible for their lives.

I made my way back to my ship without speaking to anyone else, knowing there was nothing else I could do. All I wanted to do was get these people away from Cerberus, and do it before anyone else was hurt or killed.

The one constant in the back of my mind was my wife and child. Seeing them, getting away and looking at their faces and hearing their voices was the only thing I wanted.'

I reminded myself once again that if anything ever happened to them, I would cease to have a reason to exist in this world.

…

**A/N: Things have taken a dire turn for the worst as Cerberus manages to strike once again. How all of this will affect Sean and his team in the future is still undetermined, but he sure as hell is going to try his hardest to keep all of them safe. **

**Had a lot of time to work on this after the snow removed any possibly of going any where. Wasn't quite sure how this chapter would end up panning out, but I squared it away quite will in the end.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	41. Daemon

…

"Living in the past is a luxury none of us can afford. We must learn from it, but we cannot live there. It is impossible to plan for the [now]-the present is ever fleeting. [The future] is where we must live-[the future] is what we must plan for."

(Filial Devotion)

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 15th, 2:12 PM, 2184

…

Once again I was sat next to Dan, staring at his immobile form with what I could only assume was the blankest expression possible. He was still using an assisted breathing device, chest moving up and down very softly. I wanted so badly for him to wake up just so we could have another one of our dumb, Seinfeldian conversations. Nothing more than a normal, non-political interaction with a familiar human being.

After what had happened in the holding facilities, preparations were quickly being thrown together to have the survivors moved before the end of the day. After hearing the terrible news, Hackett had sent me a personal message offering his condolences. It did nothing but make me more tired. Due to our time constraints, he was going to have our requested supplies delivered by another ship later in the month.

"You know, staring at him like that isn't going to help him heal faster." Lydia commented with spite from the nearby projector, arms crossed over her chest.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked under my breath, giving her a side glance.

"Yeah, how about you get away from my brother before you cause him any more harm?" She exploded, out at me as I stood up to face her. "You think I didn't hear about what happened? Two of those scientist dead?"

"That wasn't my fucking fault, and you sure as hell know it!" I yelled back at her, jabbing my finger in her direction. "Don't you dare try to pin this on me!"

"Everywhere you go, someone either ends up hurt, shot, or dead! You're like a misery magnet!" She yelled even louder, turning up the volume of the speakers in the room to make herself sound louder. "When's it going to stop?!"

"I'll tell you when it's going to stop. It's going to stop when every one of these bastards is hanging from a noose! Not a single survivor!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, feeling my face getting redder as I went on. "If you want someone to blame, blame them! I'm not the problem here."

She glared at me for a few seconds, looking off for a moment before locking back on me with an ashamed expression. She held it for a minute, trying to figure out the correct thing to say next.

"I'm so sorry… I'm just…" She tried to get out before she got down to the "ground" and tucked her legs up to her chest, holding them together as she buried her head in between. "I just feel so powerless. In here, I can't be out there, helping make a difference like I used to."

I sighed, letting myself relax as I walked over and sat down next to the projector. I put my head against the wall with a clunk, turning slightly to look up at her.

"Lydia, all I've ever wanted to do is sit back and work on the things I love." I explained, gesturing lazily with my hand as I spoke. "I never wanted to be in charge, I never wanted to be a leader, but it's what I have to be. I can't control any of this more than you can."

She nodded, closing her eyes for a few moments before speaking up again.

"You know, after you two disappeared back in 2023, it took years for me to accept you were gone. Losing my brother, losing one of my best friends." She said, eyes raised above her knees. "Do you want to know the reason why I chose to be put on ice all those years ago?"

"You had inoperable cancer." I answered, remembering all the conversations we've had. "Colorectal cancer. Right?"

"I admit, it was only a half truth." She remarked, causing my eyes to widen slightly in surprise. "The cancer was only the excuse. The real reason why I volunteered was so there would be a chance I could see you two again."

She closed her eyes again, bowing her head slightly as her lower lip trembled.

"When I awoke inside of that holotank and saw your faces again, I wanted nothing more than to cry." She went on, her form visibly shaking as she spoke. "But I couldn't. I couldn't cry, breathe, sleep, or feel my own heartbeat anymore. All I was, and all I am now is a chunk of code that barely exists."

Her hologram began to flicker and distort as her voice got shakier, casing me to feel intensely worried.

"Don't say that, you aren't just some program created on a computer. You are Lydia Nemo, an individual with all the same rights as any other sentient being." I shot back, never realizing she felt like this until now. "An individual who is loved by their brother, and valued as a good friend by me and others."

"How would you know? How would **I **know?" She fired back, not yelling but with enough force to be noticeable. "All I know was that I was conceived of November 14th, 2180 at 8:39 AM. How am I really supposed to know if I'm who they said I was?"

"Because only you have those memories, Lydia. Memories are what shape us, form us, and define us. No one else will ever have the same memories as you." I argued, looking up at her with a sterner expression. "You remember going up to see the fireworks at Catonsville High School back in 2014? The bright flashes of color, the deafening bangs, the cool summer air?"

She stared into the distance, her expression softening as she allowed herself to smile.

"I do remember." She reminisced, her lip beginning to tremble again. "I remember the smell of the food trucks, the din of the crowds around us… the feeling of awe as we stared at the sky."

She stared into space as she shook, hands clasped together for the longest time before her gaze met mine again.

"Thank you." She nodded to me, standing back up as her hologram started to flicker out of existence. "I… appreciate you talking to me."

I nodded in response, getting back to my feet and walking towards the door. I was about to open it before her voice rang out again through the room speakers.

"_Oh, and Sean?_" She called out, causing me to freeze in my tracks. "_You may not want to be a leader, but you sure seem to make a good one._"

I allowed myself to crack a smile before exiting the room, wanting to oversee the movement of our new guests.

I needed to be there to set a good example.

…

Twenty Minutes Later

…

I stood in the crew deck, watching our surviving four defectors move into the bunk room on the other side of the ship while two medics moved Miranda into the medbay. They were still very much shaken after what had happened. Mineko was in particularly bad shape on the emotional side of things. Her eyes were still bloodshot from crying. I stood in the doorway watching them each take a bunk before walking towards them.

"I'll speak to the Admirals later, see if I can't get you guys a proper residence planetside." I reassured, looking at each one of them.

"Thank you, Captain." Watterson spoke, both for himself and the others.

"Please, just call me Sean." I urged, holding up one of my hands. "Let me know if you guys need anything at all, I'm usually on the bridge."

With that, I left them to their own devices as I turned the corner into the medbay where two Alliance medical personnel were just finishing up with her move.

"So, what were her exact injuries?" I asked, looking at the two of them as one set up an IV line.

"She received a compound fracture in her left radius, and a single stab wound to the abdomen. She also has various superficial bruises." One of the medics explained, pointing out each region on her half naked body. "The arm is in a cast, she's received a transfusion, and the stab wound has been treated and stitched."

"She's very lucky. The blade she was stabbed with barely missed her aorta." The other medic quipped, putting the IV into her arm before looking over at Dan. "What happened to him?"

"Concussion." I answered quickly, crossing my arms and staring down at Miranda. Her chest was covered with a simple tank top, stab wound clearly visible on her stomach.

As the medics walked off back up the stairs to leave, Greg hit our floor in the elevator, carrying a small case with him. The moment he saw me, he quickly set it down, making a beeline for me.

"I hope you're right about all of this." He quickly said in grim tone, head tilted slightly to the side. "We've only done basic vetting on them, there's no way of knowing for sure if they're all trustworthy."

"Unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice considering what's happened." I shot back, hands folded neatly behind me. "I wouldn't worry too much. Once we get to Reach, we'll have ankle bracelets put on them, set up a monitoring suite, and make sure they're given plenty of hot food."

Greg understandably shook his head, looking back at the case.

"Oh, I know you didn't get everything you wanted yet, but Hackett did have your one big request ready for you." He said, gesturing towards the case.

My eyes immediately lit up as I ran over to the case, looking inside to see two Labrador Retrievers, one yellow, and the other black. The both looked up at me with their tiny faces, melting my heart.

"Two purebred Labrador Retrievers. Born three weeks ago." Greg explained as I opened the case and picked up the yellow one. "He's the male, the black one is the female."

I could only let out a small huff before I nearly broke into tears, holding the little confused puffball in my arms.

"Thank you." I said through my sudden fit of emotion, looking up at him. "I haven't had pets, let alone dogs, in nearly a decade."

"Labs are good dogs, my father used to have three when I was growing up in Texas." He smiled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "They'll be the first dogs on the planet. Planning on breeding them?"

"Maybe, I don't know." I said quickly without looking at him, putting the yellow lab down and picking up the black one. "I haven't really given it much thought."

"Well in that case, I'm off. I should be with Dimitri if you need me." He finished, going back to the elevator as I kept myself focused on the puppies.

I stared into their little eyes, unable to stop smiling as I put the black one into the box and closed the top.

Despite everything I had gone through the last two days, something this simple managed to make me feel twenty times better.

I carefully lifted the crate and walked up to the bridge, knowing I wouldn't let the pups anywhere out of my sight for a while.

…

MFV _Explorer_, October 15th, 5:49 PM, 2184

…

I sat quietly on the bridge, once again all by myself. Ever since what had happened, everyone had been keeping their distance from one another. It wasn't a deliberate decision on anyone's part, we all just tended to deal with the stress around us in their own private ways.

The ship was in "autopilot", about two hours away from Reach. We had departed from Arcturus quickly after everyone was aboard, making sure to check all the cargo that we had received for possible bugs. After my experience aboard that tram, seeing that man, I was properly paranoid once more.

Typically, I dealt with stress by playing lots of music. In the past I used to play video games, but I hadn't played a real video game in years. I was toying with the idea of building my own FM radio station on Reach, running it as my new hobby. There existed no laws against running a radio station, meaning I could play whatever I wanted on it.

This wouldn't be just any radio station, either. It would be a real, honest-to-god station with its own dedicated transmitter, antenna, and UPS. I toyed with the idea of making it an all 80's station, playing the likes of Billy Joel, George Michael, and Cyndi Lauper, but part of me felt like it would be too limiting.

I leaned back in my chair, thinking back to the old stations my parents and I used to listen to back home. There were three big ones, 100.7 The Bay, 101.9 Lite FM, and 102.7 Jack FM. The Bay was all classic rock, playing songs that came out in the 1970's and 1980's. Lite FM played adult contemporary hits during the day and love songs at night. Jack FM played a little bit of everything, and had a charismatic DJ that would often tell jokes about his sponsors or Maryland itself between tracks.

I had no idea if any of these stations were still up and running, but in the end… it didn't matter. I smiled, looking at the passing stars as I remembered some of the old broadcasts.

"102.7 Jack FM. Broadcasting live from our secret bunker under the Patterson Pagoda, *beep*." I recalled word for word, remembering the mashup musical bit they would play in the middle. "Playing what we want for Baltimore."

Thinking back to it would remind me of the long car trips my parents would take me on through the state. The passing trees, the rolling fields, and the occasional barn in Westminster were the standouts in my memory.

My thoughts were interrupted as the communications console began beeping, getting me out of my seat to answer it. The moment I saw who it was, I let out a small sigh of relief. It was Admiral Koris.

"Hello Admiral." I greeted, turning on the video feed as I threw myself into the communications seat. "I hope all is well back home."

"Well, if something isn't working properly on one of the Liveships, I'll be sure to direct you to it." He joked, nodding his head before crossing his arms. "I've spoken with the others regarding your request, and they are reluctantly going along with it. Another housing unit is being moved over to your homestead as we speak."

"Good. How did they initially react?" I asked, leaning back slightly in the chair.

"Zadie and Raan reacted with minor annoyance, but you would have thought we were forfeiting several hundred of our ships to the Alliance from how Gerrel and Rael reacted." He replied with obvious annoyance in his voice. "The two of them are the biggest bosh'tets I've ever known."

"To be fair, I didn't give them much warning." I admitted, shaking my head. "Let me guess… he thinks we're trying to start a human colony on Reach, doesn't he?"

"When doesn't he make that comment?" He shot back in a slightly lower, more grumbly tone. "Anyways, it'll be ready for your new guests when the time comes."

"Thank you, sir." I said quickly, straightening myself back up as I leaned forward. "How are they doing?"

"Powell, Dr. Ford, and the little one are all doing quite well." He answered, letting his arms hand back to his sides. "I spoke at length with Powell a few hours ago. He's a good speaker, considering he's an A.I."

"Powell can be quite the conversationalist when he wants to be." I smiled, allowing myself to chuckle before my omni-tool began beeping again.

"I'll see you when you get back, Captain." Koris cut off, knowing I was receiving a call on my end. I closed the connection on my end, quickly answering my omni-tool.

"Get down here, he's woken up." Sira announced in a deadpan, cutting off the connection before I could even properly react.

Without even thinking, I quickly leapt out of the chair, running past my sleeping dogs in the crate before dashing through the CIC into the stairway. It took less than eight seconds for me to traverse the entire thing before bursting into the med bay.

Inside, I saw Dan sitting upwards, slowly drinking from a cup of water as Sira, Dimitri, and Richard stood around and watched him.

"Hey Sean." Dan greeted with tired eyes, bandage still wrapped tightly around his head. "I heard I missed a few things."

"Well, that's one way of putting it." I said, cracking a big smile as I walked up to him. "How do you feel?"

"I have one hell of a h-headache, that's for sure." He answered, pointing to the side of his head.

"I was just telling Dan of fight we fought against Cerberus." Dimitri explained, arms crossed against the wall as he spoke. "He says he cannot remember being in Mako."

"I couldn't even re…remember having one." Dan commented with a mixed expression of confusion and concern. "I hope I didn't forget anything important."

"I hope not. I'd hate it if I had to do all the math myself." I joked, getting a good rise out of him.

"Ugh…" Could be heard behind us as we all turned to face Miranda Lawson, who was stirring with all the noise. She narrowed her eyes, wincing in pain as she leaned up. She looked at her arm in the cast and scarred abdomen before locking eyes with us. "Where am I?"

"You're back on our ship, heading to Reach." I explained with no nonsense, arms crossed. "How do you feel?"

'I feel like I lost a fight." She said, clearly in pain as she grit her teeth and threw her legs over the edge of the bed.

"I think you need to rest." Richard insisted with sudden urgency in his normally lethargic voice, walking closer before she held out her hand.

"I'm fine." She insisted, standing up straighter before focusing back on me. Reluctance filled her face before she spoke, disappearing the moment the words began to leave her mouth. "Are the others alright?"

"They're safe, here aboard the ship, though they are badly shaken from what happened on Arcturus." I answered truthfully, looking towards the door before focusing back on them. "What happened in there? The cameras had been disabled."

"One of Cerberus' assassins entered the holding areas on Arcturus with what only could have been orders to eliminate the defectors." She recalled, face still hardened despite the pain. "I couldn't tell who it was, he was wearing a face mask during the attack."

"Was it a man with longer black hair?" I asked, getting some surprise from her.

"Yes, it was." She agreed, nodding with a confused look. "How did you know?"

"While I was on the tram, I spotted a man on the train that rubbed me the wrong way." I explained, beginning to pace back and forth as I recalled those tense moments. "He looked to be of Asian descent, long black hair and cold, dead eyes. The moment I saw him, I knew something was seriously wrong."

"Asian…" She repeated, staring into space before looking back at me. "It must have been Kai Leng. He's one of the Illusive Man's top agents… I'm lucky to be alive if that really was him."

I nodded, staying silent for a few moments before speaking up again.

"Listen, once we get to Reach you and the others will be given a new residence to share, curtesy of the Admiralty Board." I began to explain, sitting down on the bed across from her. "After a few days of rest, we'll start giving you all some work to do. Work that'll be used to fight Cerberus."

The look on her face said everything I needed to know. Her eyes looked sunken, as if she had been hit with a ton of bricks.

It was one-hundred percent genuine.

"OK." She nodded with resignation in her voice, locking her eyes with mine. "Once I've had time to… absorb all of this, I'll tell you anything you want to know. About Cerberus and Project Lazarus."

"Take your time." I urged, getting back up and looking at Richard, who nodded curtly.

"You, uh… should both be good to walk, just make sure to take it slowly." He said, grabbing two sets of medical scrubs and handing them to her and Dan. "Try not to make any sudden movements, Miss Lawson, those stitches are less than twelve hours old."

"I know." She nodded, wincing as she bent over slightly. "Thank you."

I gave each of them of them one look before walking off, leaving the two of them alone.

These next few days would be interesting. That much was for certain. In the end, the only thing I truly wanted was to be with my wife and little girl again.

…

Serenity Valley, October 19th, 8:33 AM, 2184

…

"Here you go, you little fluffballs." I said quickly, filling up the two small food bowls with kibble before getting down on one knee and rubbing each behind the ears. "I swear, you two eat more in your own body weight."

"They're bundles of energy, I tell you." Mara said, a wide smile on her face as she sat down with her cup of coffee.

Mara had been ecstatic to not only see me again, but to see that I had brought dogs with me. Elle was already having a ball with them too, rolling around on the floor with them as they licked her face. After thinking it, we had decided to call the yellow one Finnie and the black one Darcy. Both Irish names.

I waved to my wife as I walked out the door, closing it with a solid hiss.

I stretched my arms in the air, leaning side to side as several sharp pops resounded through the moist morning air. It was a Wednesday, the day where I went out on my long run. I was dressed in a simple pair of shorts, a grey tank top, and some old tenner shoes. While I understood that the proper term was "tennis shoes", I had decided long ago to embrace my broken, ass-backwards Maryland accent to the fullest.

As I stretched my legs and started my run to the sound of Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero", I started thinking about everything that had happened the last few days.

Despite everything, it had been surprisingly quiet. Once we had landed we quickly got everything situated, our five new compatriots were all given ankle trackers that would keep tabs on them. Their new bunk house was located about 140 meters away from our main unit. It had no boundary of any kind, but did feature a sensor suite that could tell us what they were doing if we so desired it.

Looking at how much our little chunk of the world had developed as I ran past brought a smile to my face. The primary part of our homestead of course consisted of the housing units, old colony prefabs that had been given to us as a thank you for all the work we had done for the quarians. There were three of them in groups of two, one on top of the other. On top of Mara and I's unit, I hung a flagpole that flew the American flag.

Since getting our bearings, we've built other structures in our spare time as well. The biggest and most obvious were the green houses, three long sections capable of holding various types of plants. We used them after cultivating enough seeds using CASTLE Base's hydroponics lab. They were fully self-contained, able to run no matter what season it was via an automated heating and watering system. Currently, we were mostly growing fruits because it was spring, but the one constant item we always growing were potatoes.

The second, oldest addition was the shuttle pad, which had a pretty self-explanatory use. There were two shuttles, one that we used and the one that belonged to Greg. Next to it however was our garage, which held our snowcat, a motorbike, and now the Mako the Alliance had given to us. We also kept most of our tools in there, neatly sorted and locked away behind several heavy-duty lockers.

On the edge of our property was also the _Explorer_'s landing site. It was a large, flat space of exposed mountain bedrock that water flow had stripped all topsoil from over the years. It was solid, and fit our ship's profile perfectly. Even after everything we had done, nature had done for us what would have taken hundreds of men days to clear.

Outside of our property was still mostly forest, especially to the south where development had remained quite limited. The large trees, native to Reach, I had decided to call Polocks. While the term polock was derogatory in Europe towards the Polish, back in Baltimore's Polish communities it was considered a term of endearment.

There were plenty of times my mother poked fun at us, calling us "big dumb polocks" whenever we did something that particularly annoyed her. I saw my naming for the tree as another funny little tribute to my parents.

As I ran through the forest, I stopped and took a moment to admire the sunbeams moving between the trees, shifting calmly in the wind. Around this area was where I first expressed my feelings for Mara. Like a lot of things around here, it held a lot of sentimental value.

After making my way to the top of the steep hill and coming back, I returned to see Mineko and Gastwirt sitting outside of their unit talking to one another. I walked over, wanting to better establish myself with them.

"Hey folks, what's happening?" I asked, walking down the straight gravel path that led to their dwelling.

"Hello Dr. Michaels." Mineko greeted, still very meek. "I was just discussing the applications of military-grade muscle enhancements if reworked to quarian physiology."

"The problem is that while mapping out quarian DNA would be a simple prospect, adapting our existing therapies to a whole other species could have… consequences down the line." Gastwirt explained, his German accent obvious.

Gastwirt was strange to me. Deep inside of me I felt like I had heard his voice before, but it seemed more like it had been in a dream from the way I remembered it. I couldn't understand it for the life of me.

"Sounds interesting. Did you try bringing it up with Richard?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.

"His friend Powell is a bit… intimidating." She chuckled nervously, rubbing the bottom of her neckline. "I've never seen a Geth before, let alone such a big one."

"Powell is an experimental Alliance A.I. created back in 2179." I explained, getting down on one knee. "His "body", or "platform" or whatever you choose to call it was gifted to him by the Geth Collective."

"Gifted?" Gastwirt questioned out loud, looking quite confused.

"It's a long story. Let's just say they've been places very few others have." I held off, not wanting to give away too much information. "I'll see you two later."

I walked around to the back of the unit, seeing Miranda was back here doing push-ups with a set of workout clothes. Her hair was tied back in its usual ponytail, hanging over her shoulder as she grunted up and down.

"For someone who got stabbed a few days ago, you don't seem to be that fazed." I joked, leaning against the housing unit.

"I may be able to do push-ups, but I still can't do crunches." She corrected, rolling over onto her back as she let out a deep sigh. "I saw you out there running earlier, figured I might as well try doing something with this free time."

"Running is something I enjoyed doing, especially as someone who used to be overweight growing up." I said, watching her as she got back up on her feet. "So… you ready to head up there today and explain to us how you had planned to bring Shepard back to life?"

Even after seeing everything that Cerberus had in that lab, saying that still felt very outlandish. I imagined she felt a lot differently about it.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to work, if that's what you're asking." She shot back, walking up to me with an unamused look on her face. "Who did you say I'd be working with again?"

"Dr. Richard Karpyshyn and his friend, Powell." I answered quickly, crossing my arms. "He's a good guy. Stays focused, determined, talented with all things medical in nature."

She simply pursed her lips, not seeming at all convinced.

"Trust me, he's probably smarter than those crones you were working with before." I remarked with a slightly less friendly face. "We'll leave at twelve hundred hours. Be ready, because I'm bringing the other four along too."

"What? Why?" She questioned quickly, not looking at all happy with what I had told her.

"What's the matter, Miss Lawson? I thought the time for secrets was over." I answered in a sly tone, narrowing my eyes.

All she did was glare at me for a few seconds before walking back off into the housing unit. I shook my head, letting out a small sigh as I walked back off.

This was going to be a very difficult relationship.

…

**A/N: A bit of character building this time around. Now that we have defectors joining the group, things could begin changing for everyone in the group. Is Miranda honest about her intentions? Is anyone a defector, or could it be a lie? Those are the risks that must be taken.**

**Unfortunately, it's looking like ME: Andromeda is indeed as bad as I predicted it would be. The characters look awful, the story looks bland, and most of the original Mass Effect developers are gone anyways. I promised myself that I would never buy another Bioware game after Mass Effect 3, and it's not looking difficult at all to keep my promise.**

**Also, I'm curious… how many of you actually look up the music I mention in my story and play it? I'm curious to see if it's something people appreciate regarding Sean and his age. Let me know in a review!**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!**


	42. Enmity

…

Reuploaded this chapter because for some reason it messed up and didn't send out notifications again.

...

"Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man's survival."

(Carlos P. Romulo)

…

Shuttle _Ranger_, October 19th, 12:12 PM, 2184

…

I smiled as we broke the atmosphere, soaring towards Cairo Station. I carefully observed the station as we got closer, seeing the new addition attached to the portside docking section. It was about the size of a frigate, but wider all around. It appeared as if it barely fit in between the two docking arms.

I held my breath as we pulled into one of the various shuttles bays on the _Cairo_, something that I had always done reflexively despite the relatively small amount of danger it posed.

When I had just gotten out of high school, Dan and I had gone out to watch Interstellar in theaters. The scene where the docking maneuver isn't done properly and ends in an explosion instilled in me a deep fear of docking failures, and ship-to-ship maneuvering in general. It wasn't a crippling fear by any means, but it sat in the back of your mind, nagging you no matter how hard you tried to ignore it.

As we landed inside of the station with a gentle thump, I looked back at Miranda, Richard, and all the other scientists as I let my breathing return to normal.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the _Cairo_." I announced, popping the hatch to be greeted by the sight of a small five-man security team, led by Captain Keno's chief of security, Hana'Rei vas Cairo.

"Hello Captain." She greeted, giving me a firm handshake. "The entire module has been successfully linked to the station. I'll show you the way if you'll follow me."

"Sure thing." I agreed, falling in line behind her as the others followed me. "So, were there any problems getting the module between the docking arms?"

"It was a little hairy, but we got the job done." She replied, her team following up behind my group. "Personally, I was more concerned about whatever was inside the module doing damage to the station's systems, but your… "friend", Powell, assured us there were no hidden programs in the computers."

I brushed off her abrasive attitude towards Powell as my mind shifted to another, more important question.

"My orders that no one enter the lab were followed, correct?" I asked, looking back at Miranda for a second as we passed through Habitat Delta and into the docking bays.

"The farthest we went were the airlocks." She finished, stopping outside of an airlock that was guarded by a marine decked out in a Gen IV exosuit. "Would you like for my security team to wait here, sir?"

I thought about it for a few seconds, looking back at everyone before making my decision. While most of them still looked confused, Miranda had maintained her stoic, dissatisfied expression while Richard simply looked eager to get back in there and look at all the tech Cerberus had created.

Unable to come to a decision, I decided to do something different.

"Well, I'll let you decide, Ms. Lawson." I said, looking directly at her as all the eyes around us focused on her. "You want them to come with us?"

She focused on me with a raised eyebrow and minor confusion for a few moments before looking to everyone else then back to me.

"I believe our party is big enough as it is." She mused, softening her expression as she folded her hands behind her back.

"Very well." I nodded, looking between her and Rei. "Lead the way, Miranda. This is your domain, after all."

She pursed her lips for a second, exhaling through her nose before taking the front and going down the docking cradle.

After waiting wordlessly for the airlock to cycle over the span of a minute, we entered the inside of the lab. It was in the exact same state it was before we left, much to my relief. I could see from a cursory glance that I wasn't the only one who was relieved either. Miranda had the happiest face on that I could imagine, that being a small smile.

"Nothing was removed?" She questioned, walking over to the console Dan and I had listened to the logs on.

"We collected all the loose papers into those boxes, and all the computer data was left as is after being accessed." I answered, following her over as the others began wandering over too.

"Very impressive, I must say." Richard gushed, running over to us. "Tell me, did any of the artificial muscle grafting research come from reverse-engineered Geth platforms?"

Miranda looked at him in minor shock, obviously surprised by his enthusiasm. To be honest, I couldn't blame her. She wasn't used to him like the rest of us were.

"Some of it, yes." She said with some hesitation, typing away at her console as she accessed the module's status readings. "While we did learn a lot from the Geth during their incursions into the Traverse, most platforms destroy themselves after being sufficiently damaged. Work, as far as I still know, has been slow."

"Are the nanite breeders a Cerberus invention?" He questioned further as I looked between the two before we were interrupted by Mineko.

"Um, forgive me for asking, but what is all of this for?" She asked, looking very confused. "I see some things I'm familiar with, but most of this seems… experimental."

Miranda looked over to me, still looking very much reluctant to begin spewing information. I shrugged my shoulders, gesturing to them as she let out yet another sigh.

For the next hour, Miranda thoroughly explained the purpose and goals of Project Lazarus as we all sat back and listened. She didn't appear to hold back at all, explaining it all in its entirety. It was quite impressive, even as someone who wasn't that well versed in medical matters.

To bring Shepard back from the dead, Cerberus had invested over two billion credits into getting ahold of the most advanced medical technology available, most of which was still considered very fringe and untested. They were rebuilding Shepard bit by bit, restoring his body and making as many practical "improvements" as possible via the introduction of cybernetics.

When they had gotten his body, he was apparently unrecognizable. Shepard had died from suffocation in vacuum, and then went through planetary re-entry. While his hardsuit had saved him from burning up in the atmosphere, the impact pulverized most of his bones and left severe burn damage on the epidermis. Exposure to space had also burst his lungs and several major blood vessels.

I couldn't even imagine how painful his death must have been.

After Cerberus recovered his body, they got to work fast. They began rebuilding him from the inside out, literally "growing" him back. Everything had to be repaired cell-by-cell, and it was a time-consuming process. They were close to repairing most of the major bone and organ damage, and were about to begin "bio-synthetic fusion" which involved the slow activation of his new implants.

There were no replacement organs, limbs, or anything of the sort, the "Illusive Man" wanted him brought back in the same condition he was before his death. He, like Hackett, apparently saw something in Shepard that was possibly linked to our survival soon. It still seemed like a stretch, but seeing everything Cerberus had put into it gave me second thoughts.

Once she had concluded her long explanation, I walked back towards her with my hands folded behind my back. I have her a good, hard look before turning around to face everyone else.

"Having heard Miranda's explanation, I'm now offering you the chance to assist her and Richard in Project Lazarus or to work with me and my other colleagues at CASTLE Base." I announced, filling their expressions with equal amounts of confusion and surprise. "The choice is yours, and now is the time to make it."

I waited, standing as still as I could as I gave them a few moments to ponder their choices.

Slowly, Mineko and Hans stepped over to Miranda, while Johnathan and James stayed where they were.

"Well, that settles it." I said with the biggest, most friendly smile I could make. "From this point on, until the project is concluded, you will be a tight-knit team. Work together, work smart, and above all else… don't create a modern version of Frankenstein in here."

Much to my relief, the joke hit home, getting Mineko, Hans, and Richard all the laugh, and even managed to make Miranda smirk slightly. I flipped around to face James and Johnathan, now focused exclusively on them.

"So… what do you two have to offer us mechanically inclined folk?" I asked with the same smile, relieved to know that we now had some more people around to help.

The coming weeks would be interesting indeed.

…

CASTLE Base, November 22nd, 12:31 PM, 2184

…

I sat back in my office chair, listening to the small creaking noise it made with comfort. The sound was very much like the one the one my Dad's old wooden office chair would make back home. It was the small, little things that helped ease one's mind, the things that reminded you of time when things were simpler.

In the weeks since I restarted Project Lazarus and got our new colleagues working, things had progressed rather smoothly.

The two biggest things to happen on our end in the last six weeks was the completion of our second Orbital Defense Platform and the first of our Phantom-class stealth frigates, both named _Mombasa _and _Ghost _respectively. The _Mombasa_ was almost a complete copy of the _Cairo_, but included several internal improvements. One of them was the inclusion of our refined MES system, which was twice as energy efficient as the one we tested on the _Cairo_. It also boasted the ability to adjust its own orbit using massive plasma thrusters located in key points of the superstructure.

The _Ghost_ was a beautiful ship. According to Dan, the design was similar to that of the Gyges-class aerial warships from Ace Combat 6, a game he had played back in high school. It was shaped a lot like a manta ray, having wide swept "wings" that were pitch-black and a hull that was covered with sensor confusing paneling. Funny enough, the material was like the sonar-absorbing panels the Soviets used on the Typhoon-class submarines. It was armed with the best EW suite available, and boasted turrets and GUARDAN arrays on the top and bottom for defense.

The shakedown run for the _Ghost_ had gone off without a hitch. It had traveled all the way through the Attican Traverse to Alliance space undetected, using only a fraction of the energy the setup on the _Explorer _utilizes. Compared to the Normandy-class frigates the Alliance were building, I'd say the _Ghost _was in a field of its own. A black wing that was indiscernible from the vacuum of space.

I looked back to my computer, checking the latest reports coming in from everyone around the base. They were numerous, but each one I had a near-full understanding of.

After we had finished reverse-engineering the Hammerhead IFV recovered from Cerberus, running it through tests and breaking it in, we set about building a newer, more balanced version called the Whitetip. The first change off the bat was the replacement of the eezo power core with one of our Mk.4 NM reactors, the same one the Cobra, Python, Viper, and Dragoon all used. This allowed us to reintroduce kinetic barriers, which had been omitted from the original design due to power draw reasons. The extra power also allowed for longer use of the boost and jump mechanics.

Both the Viper and Python had gone into full production, and pilots were being trained daily for them. We had six squadrons in production, with twelve more planned by June of 2185. Eighteen vessels per squadron, split up between nine fighters and nine interceptors. These squadrons, depending on the situation, could be augmented with two to four Cobra gunships. Plans were underway for the creation of a carrier that would hold all these ships.

The Dragoons were progressing well. We had finished building two full lances of walkers, four mechs per lance. Things had kicked into gear after concerted efforts were made to salvage scrap from the debris field in orbit. Now, our focus was the development of the Desant-class transports that would transport them over long distances. Once we had ironed out all the deployment problems, the Dragoons would be our ace in the sleeve when it came to ground engagements. Nothing would be able to match it in pure destructive power, and we would be able to deploy them as fast as we could retrieve them.

I leaned over, picking up Darcy in my hands and laying her in my lap. She was already starting to get big fast, and I wanted to enjoy her while she was this small. She stood up in my lap, laying herself on my chest as she began to lick my face.

"Ooh, you're just a crazy little dog, aren't you?" I remarked with a big smile, rubbing her nose against mine. "When we get home, I'll give you and Finny a nice treat."

The quiet moment was suddenly cut off as I heard several knocks against my door, causing my eyes to immediately shoot up.

"Come in." I said out loud, putting Darcy back to the ground as I sat up straighter in my chair.

The door slid open, revealing Admiral Gerrel. His sudden, unannounced presence surprised me, causing me to immediately go on guard.

"Hello Captain." He greeted, walking in and closing the door behind him.

"Admiral." I replied in as calm of a tone as possible as Darcy ran up to him, smelling his leg.

"What is that?" He exclaimed, backing away from her as she stood in place and tilted her head.

"Oh, she doesn't bite." I reassured, whistling to grab her attention. "She's a dog, a domesticated Earth animal."

He simply shook his head, walking over and taking a seat across from me as she sat down in front of Gerrel and stared at him.

"Sean, I have a matter that I wanted to discuss with you in person." He began, leaning forward slightly as I cocked one of my eyebrows. "It's important, something I want kept between us."

"Lay it on me." I agreed without hesitation, leaning back slightly in my chair as I attempted to mentally prepare myself for whatever surprise he had for me.

"Alright… two days ago, one of our exploration groups came across an old probe near turian space. We picked it up, finding it to be of Alliance origin, from sometime around the First Contact War." He went through, pausing for a moment before going further. "The thing that surprised us was that there was a nuclear device built into the probe, one that was still armed."

"Jesus Christ." I exclaimed, unable to think of a better thing to say. "You're not asking me to disarm a nuke, are you?"

"No, no, we've already disabled the device." He reassured, calming me down slightly. "It's being moved to the base's storage area as we speak, I just wanted you to be aware of what's going on."

"Wait a minute, if the nuke belongs to the Alliance, don't you think we should return it to them?" I asked, standing up from my chair. "Why are we taking possession of it?"

He stared long and hard at me for a few solitary moments, tapping the edge of his helmet before standing up himself.

"Captain, why should we give it to the Alliance when we can keep it for ourselves?" He argued, genuinely worrying me. "If the Alliance had the gull to simply fire unmanned nukes into deep space, then, how do the humans say it… "keeper's finders?"

"Finders keepers." I corrected with crossed arms, not at all happy with his decision. "Look, I don't think it's a good decision to have anything that's stolen from the Alliance, especially a nuke of all things. If anyone ever caught on to the fact that we were in possession of an undocumented nuclear device, it wouldn't end well for any of us."

"Well, in that case, it's a good thing only we know about it." He shot back, arms folded behind his back. "As far as I'm concerned, only you, Rael and I know it is here. The device will be stored on Sublevel 9 in the vault. I trust there won't be any problems with that, right Captain?"

"No sir." I grudgingly agreed, letting my shoulders sag.

"Good. I'll expect the reports from your teams tomorrow at twelve." He finished, trotting out of the doorway without a care in the world.

Part of me wished I could be as blissfully ignorant as him. It could have made my job much easier, but at an obvious price.

…

Serenity Valley, November 29th, 6:34 PM, 2184

…

I sat down at the dinner table in Dimitri's unit, allowing myself to sigh before forcing a smile onto my face. Heart's "Barracuda" played softly in the background as Dimitri, Mara and Sira finished up the large batch of Spaghetti we were having for dinner. This was the first time everyone was eating together since the arrival of our new colleagues, and part of me still felt very tense about the whole situation we had found ourselves in. While I felt better about Hans, John, Mineko, and James, I was still very worried about Miranda.

While the other four sat around one another and spoke casually about their projects, Miranda sat quietly by herself, examining her datapad seemingly without a care in the world. Her disposition over the last few weeks had hardly changed, and she was still all buissness. Once again, she brought back memories of Mara and I's early working relationship back on Aldrin Station. At least back then we were all on the same side, but I felt there was more going on in her head than she was letting on.

It genuinely worried me.

"Hey Miranda, what are you looking at?" I asked, catching her slightly off-guard.

"I'm still working on the proper regulation of Shepard's protein synthesis. The balance between his body and his implants must be perfect." She answered quickly, narrowing her eyes back onto the datapad.

I cocked my eyebrows, unsatisfied with her response. I decided I had to take a more aggressive route.

"Can I ask you a question that's been on my mind?" I inquired, crossing my arms as I put both elbows against the table.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eyes, the usual unamused expression crossing her face before she sighed and looked back to her notes.

"If you want to, go ahead." She agreed with obvious resignation, not even looking at me.

"What's it going to take to convince you that Cerberus are the bad guys here?" I asked with nothing held back, narrowing my eyes slightly as she stopped scrolling through the notes and stared into space for a few seconds.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shot back, clearly caught off-guard.

"You know exactly what it means." I pushed harder, lowering my head slightly. "Despite everything that's happened, you still think that later down the line you can get back into The Illusive Man's good graces."

"Are you trying to insinuate that I plan on defecting?" She said, not sounding at all happy with what I was saying.

"The thought had crossed my mind." I replied, sitting slightly taller in my seat. "I can see it in the way you work, the way you act, even in those blue eyes. You believe there's still a future for you in Cerberus. You think they'll take you back."

"Let me tell YOU something, _Captain_." She rebutted quickly, raising her voice slightly. "You know nothing about me, my motivations, and my ideas. Don't go around treating me like some snake in the grass backstabber. If you want the truth, I'll tell you right now!"

"By all means, go ahead!" I yelled back with an equal amount of force as everyone stopped what they were doing and started watching us.

"You're right! I originally did plan on rejoining Cerberus!" She spat out in a disgusted tone, standing up out of her seat as she stared daggers into me. "I figured that if I offered myself to the Alliance, there would be a chance I could keep the work on Shepard intact. That was until they tried to have me killed! Is that a good enough answer for you? Does that answer any of your questions?!"

I continued to keep my angry gaze focused directly on her as everything in Dimitri's unit became deathly quiet. I held that same look for what felt like half an hour before I calmly stood up and offered her a handshake. She stared at my hand with immense confusion before slowly grasping it.

"I want to officially welcome you to our team, Miranda." I said in a calm, relaxed tone, shaking her hand firmly, but not too tight.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, still not understanding what I was doing.

"I was testing you. Now I know you're capable of really being part of our happy little family here." I admitted, letting a smile cross my face. "I want you to feel welcomed here. We're not some group that you just happened to get saddled down with, we're friends. I just want you to understand that."

She had no response for me other than a confused, almost flabbergasted expression. It had been the first time I completely saw the woman's disposition completely change. For a second she looked like she was going to say something, but caught herself at the last moment.

"Don't worry about anything, just sit down and join the conversation." I urged, gesturing towards her other colleagues as they smiled at her. She made her way over, slowly but surely joining in with everyone else.

I think I had done it. I had gotten through to her.

Still, her confession meant I'd still have to keep an eye out.

…

Camp Dolor, December 1st, 12:31 PM, 2184

…

I ran across the flat, scorched field into the observation bunker as rain poured down from the sky, turning most of the ground to mud. This was the worst kind of weather to do a live-fire demonstration in, but then again… that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. If our test goes well, the fact that we did it in bad weather makes it look even more impressive.

I was satisfied with the setup Dan had gotten out here on such short notice. It was a full sensor suite already calibrated for the test. He had even taken the liberty of setting up one of his enhanced TLs on the roof of the bunker for even more accurate readings.

Today, we would be observing a test of our Desant-class dropships in a simulated combat run. Both would be deploying a lance of Dragoon mechs, eight in total. All the mechs were matching E2 series, meaning that all the minor problems we encountered with the E1 should be fixed.

If all went right, the dropships would swoop in, launch the mechs from their maximum rated height of 600 feet, and speed off without a second thought. After the mechs had "cleared" the hostile targets, the dropships would return to retrieve our people on the ground.

Luckily for me, it would just be Admiral Gerrel in attendance this time around. Rael was busy doing god-knows-what in his team's lab, which suited me fine. I had gotten sick of his attitude the last few weeks, especially in regards to the Dragoon development and my "lax" treatment of our other science team members.

If he had his way, they'd be locked up in a cell and would never see sunlight again.

"Fleet Actual, this is Captain Michaels. Please confirm test scheduled for 13:00, over." I asked into the primary comm line, wanting to make sure everything was properly set up.

"_Standby, Captain._" The operator on the other end held, creating a brief pause in the transmission. "_Please send test access phrase, over._"

"Copy that. Code is… Dog Easy Sugar Able Nan Tare." I quickly said, nodding my head after I was sure I had said it all correctly. "Please confirm, over."

"_Roger that, standby_." He replied, creating another pause before coming back. "_Test confirmed and logged. Over and out._"

I allowed myself to sigh as I took a load off on the nearby stool, silently praying to myself that today's test would go off without a hitch. Our last drop test ended with two of the Dragoons blowing out their hydraulic actuators, and according to Dimitri they all ended up needing to be replaced after further examination.

"I see you've managed to get t-through this me…mess unscathed." Dan announced from the doorway, covered in a drenched raincoat.

"Now what kind of educated man would I be if I couldn't get through a rainstorm." I playfully mocked, smiling as he hung up his coat and kicked the water off his own boots.

"I don't know… people like us always seem to p-profess in one field and lag in oth…others." He shot back, allowing a small smile to creep into the corner of his mouth. "Kind of like how the G-Germans are brilliant people, but l-lack common sense."

"The Tiger H will always be my favorite World War Two tank, and nothing you say or do will convince me otherwise." I shot back in a semi-serious tone as I pointed at him, knowing exactly what he was getting at. "Just because it was over-engineered doesn't mean it was a bad tank."

"Yeah, all t-that dirt and mud getting fro…frozen into the Schachtellaufwerk sus…pension worked well." He sneered back at me as I felt my eye twitch. "The armor being a flat as a p-pancake didn't help either."

"I still can't believe you memorized the name of its suspension just to spite me." I shook my head, allowing myself to chuckle. "If we put half the effort we put into spiting each other into our own work, we'd already be in the Andromeda galaxy."

"We haven't even explored a fr-fraction of our own galaxy." He shot down, shaking his head. "Going for another o-one seems a bit far-fetched."

"Yeah… you might be right about that." I agreed, thinking a little harder about the whole thing before going on. "Hey, only four billion years until Andromeda comes to us. Think we can wait it out?"

"If I'm still around in four b-billion years, I'll need more than a whe…wheelchair to get around." Dan replied, smiling after a short pause as I cracked a sharp laugh.

Before either one of us could go on, my omni-tool began beeping loudly. Opening it, I saw it was a text alert from CASTLE Base and was broadcasting on the administration channel. As I started reading over it, Dan walked over with a worried look on his face.

"What happened?" He asked as I closed my omni-tool and reflexively bit the knuckle of my index finger. "Well?"

"We've had some kind of security breach in the facility." I began to explain, throwing my raincoat back on as he did the same. "Someone attempted to access the facility comm network before being cut off."

"Where did it or…originate from?" He followed up, looking harder at me.

"It came from Rael's lab." I answered in an exasperated tone, zipping up my coat as far as it would go. "Come on, we need to get on top of this situation before it gets any worse."

We ran through the rain, making our way through Dolor as we focused on getting to the hillside. Whatever had happened at the base had reached here, and squads were gearing up and running for the hill just the same as us.

I didn't know who was in Rael's lab, but they had done something serious if extra forces were being called in to reinforce our pre-existing marine detail. After spending twenty minutes running through pouring rain we finally made it to CASTLE Base's interior. Before I could even bother to ask for more information, I ran into Raan and Gerrel who were now overseeing the situation.

"Captain, I'm glad you're here." Raan greeted, speaking quickly as the four of us walked as a group.

"What's happening in my base, Admiral?" I asked, throwing back my dripping hood as I focused on her faceplate. "What's gone so wrong that we've got guys from Dolor coming here?"

Raan stopped in her tracks, looking at Gerrel before nodding.

"Geth have taken over Rael's lab." He answered with a completely straight face, hands clasped behind his back as my eyebrows shot up. "Come with us."

He quickly and quietly let us to a vacant storage room, opening his omni-tool.

"The last transmission we received from the lab was from one of his team members." He explained, going through and finding the file. "Its… not pretty. Here."

He opened said file, showing a quarian woman. Her envirosuit was splattered with blood, and her movements were quick and panicked.

"We've locked down access to the rest of the base. Our mistake won't endanger the rest of the facility. They're burning through the door. I don't have much time." She said quickly, looking to the door and back to the console. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Jona, if you find this, be strong for Daddy. Mommy loves you very much!"

She was then cut down by a hail of gunfire as several strange looking Geth burst into the room. The feed cut out a few seconds later, leaving nothing but static.

I had no words for what he had shown me. I was horrified.

"We've already sent one team in to investigate. They haven't reported back." Gerrel explained further, closing his omni-tool. "We're bringing in our marines to set up defensive positions around the blast door that leads to Rael's lab. If they try to get out, they're going to be in for a big surprise.

"We're considering the possibility of detonating the emergency demo charges buried beneath his portion of the base." Raan admitted as I focused on her with disbelief. "It'll destroy all of his work, but we'll know the Geth won't be a threat any longer."

"I'm s-sorry, but aren't you forgetting about all the pe…people who were working in th…those labs?" Dan shot out, not looking at all happy with what Raan was suggesting. "What the f-fuck are you thinking?"

"Dr. Nemo, please control yourself." Raan said in a clam tone, holding one of her hands up.

"We're pretty sure the Geth have already killed everyone inside." Gerrel added, crossing his arms. "Trying to go in and search for survivors seems pointless at this juncture."

Once more, my mind was racing as I struggled to process all the information going through my head. Possibilities, outcomes, possible solutions to this very dangerous problem we now faced.

"Wait a minute… just wait a minute!" I stopped, raising my voice as I held out both of my hands. "This doesn't have to end in any more bloodshed. What if we send Richard and Powell in to try and defuse the situation peacefully?"

"Peacefully?" Gerrel repeated in a tone that was both mocking and dumbfounded. "Captain, they've already slaughtered Rael, his staff, and a fully armed squad of my marines!"

"None of us have any idea if there are survivors in there or not!" I yelled back, putting my foot down. "I'm not willing to take that chance!"

"He does have a point." Raan agreed, sighing before going on. "If what the two of them told us when they first arrived here is true, they've had peaceful contact with the Geth before."

"I didn't believe any of it then, and I don't believe it now." Gerrel dismissed with spite in his voice, shaking his head. "What a bunch of nonsense."

"Captain… we don't have the time to convene on this. If you really wish to take the risk, it's up to you." Raan said, holding both of her hands together in front of her.

I closed my eyes, breathing in gently through my nose as I came to a decision.

"I'll do it." I agreed, quickly nodding my head. "Hold your men. Keep them stacked outside of the entrance while I go find Richard and Powell."

"Time is of the essence, Captain." Gerrel finished as Dan and I ran out of the storage room.

He didn't have to tell me that. If there were any survivors in there, I was going to get them out, even if it was just Rael's sour ass. Seeing the footage of that woman being gunned down brought back painful memories of Aldrin, and I didn't like it.

Someone fucked up big time in Rael's lab, and I was about 90% sure I wouldn't like knowing the specifics behind what caused all of this.

…

**A/N: Allegiances are tested and problems are afoot in CASTLE Base. What'll happen next time? Who knows, you'll just have to wait until next time! **

**It's been a while since my last chapter, I must admit. I started a new job that's been syphoning away my life force, and the upcoming finals aren't helping at all. I made this chapter a little bit longer and tried to focus more on character interaction than usual, so hopefully I hit the mark on this one.**

**Sa always, I'd love to read any reviews, and I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	43. Agnate

…

"Good men mean well. We just don't always end up doing well."

(Isaac Clarke)

…

CASTLE Base, December 1st, 1:29 PM, 2184

…

I ran as fast as I could down the stairs with Dan in tow, feeling the beads of sweat running off my forehead as I skipped steps. We weren't the only ones going through here either, several workers from the lower levels near Rael's lab were making their way up. They had been ordered to evac.

The situation was a mess, and part of me felt it was going to get worse before it got better.

I jumped the rail as we got to the desired floor, landing without breaking the speed I had built up. I pushed myself to go even faster as we both went down the corridor, our heavy footfalls echoing. I barged into Richard's lab, immediately spotting both him and Powell near the back.

"What in the hell is going on?" Richard asked, worry written all over his face. "Powell said he detected a lot of traffic on the net, and not good traffic either."

"I don't have time to give you a full explanation, so I'll give you the short version." I managed to get out between breaths, holding myself up against the wall. "Somehow, Geth have taken over Rael's lab and killed most of his team. I need you two to come with me and communicate with them, try and defuse the situation before it gets out of hand."

"I knew that must have been a Geth communication signature." Powell mused, turning his head back to Richard. "They tried to get a message out before it was cut off."

"They must have thought they were on a ship." Richard hypothesized, crossing his arms as an angry expression formed on his face. "How exactly do Geth just appear inside of the secure underground facility? I know they can do a lot of things, but spontaneous generation isn't one of them."

"We don't k-know yet, just get what you need." Dan deflected, panting as he waved his harm dismissively. "There could be tro…. trouble, so keep that in mind."

He pursed his lips for a moment, giving Powell a glance before nodding and running into the back to put on his essentials. Powell donned his hooded robe, then plucked a hidden Geth pulse rifle out from underneath one of the tables.

I didn't have to be a genius to understand what must have been going through their heads. They, like me and Dan, knew there was more to this than meets the eye.

My best guess was that Rael had been sending out salvage teams to the border worlds, looking for Geth remains. He had the parts brought back for study, and was likely using them for weapons tests or some such nonsense. The part I didn't understand was how not just one, but multiple platforms were in good enough condition to move under their own power. That would have meant they were rebuilding them, which didn't make much sense to me given his hatred for Geth.

If Rael was having them both rebuilt and reactivated… that was considered very much against the Fleet's laws. He wouldn't get away from the consequences of such a choice, he would be banished from Quarian space and labeled a traitor of the people.

Despite how much I despised the man, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. Only God knows how potentially devastating that could be to his daughter too.

The four of us ran to the elevator, punching in the level Rael's lab was on. None of us spoke as we went down, the hum of the rails outside clearly heard. For once, I was happy to be in silence. It gave me more time to think about the shitstorm we were in.

Hypothetically, what if the Geth in Rael's lab did stand down? What would happen after that point had been reached? There was no way in hell the Admirals were going to let them go, they had accessed classified networks during their incursion into our communications grid and attempted a transmission. Also, there was the small matter of them killing members of Rael's team, a list that may or may not have included the man himself. Even in self-defense, that wouldn't just be excused, especially if Rael was indeed dead.

If something goes south either while entering the lab or during "negotiations", I'd have to ensure the safety of Dan, Richard, and Powell. While I was confident Dan and Powell could handle themselves in a close-quarters engagement, I knew Richard would be next to worthless. We would have to get him out of any combat situation as fast as possible to ensure he doesn't get shot. Then we faced the prospect of either clearing out the labs room-by-room or initiating the lab's self-destruct failsafe. Both outcomes were… undesirable, to say the least.

Even in the climate-controlled facility, I could feel my undershirt begin to soak with sweat as we exited the elevator as fast as possible, pushing our way through everyone until we reached the line the marines had established outside of the lab.

The outside of Rael's lab was a larger, open area linked to three separate hallways that led to other parts of the level. The area was no bigger than a standard lab space, with a security desk and small surveillance setup. The marines had brought in barriers to take cover behind, setting up a sector of fire that covered the airlock from two of the hallways. The final hallway had been left open to allow forces easy access to Rael's lab if need be, and had been lined with explosives that would go off if Geth swarmed the area and tried exiting past either two of the entrenched positions.

All of us walked into the open area, eyeing up the defensive positions wearily as Gerrel and Raan ran back up to us.

"We'll go in and try to talk them down." I explained before either one could get a word in, staring directly at the door. "If things go south, we'll retreat back here and let them come to us."

"What if they lock the door behind you?" Raan questioned, folding her arms.

"Then we'll have to pray for the best." I finished, letting out a sigh as both Dan and I activated our kinetic barriers and picked up plasma guns from one of the defensive positions.

The airlock cycled, causing all the marines to level their weapons in silent anticipation. Much to my relief, when the thing had finished and opened, there were no Geth on the other side. With bated breath, all four of us stepped into the airlock and sealed it behind us.

We stood in silence a few moments longer before I turned to Powell, looking him in the photoreceptor.

"Can you access the communications grid here?" I asked, squeezing my plasma rifle's forward grip enough to cramp my fingers. "Maybe send out an electronic message through the grid in their language?"

"I could try, but Admiral Rael'Zorah likely had system countermeasures installed to help ward off unauthorized remote access from platforms such as mine." He said, focusing his eye's aperture on me.

"Remote ac…access?" Dan blurted out, confusion crossing over onto his face. "If we can get you to a physical port, could t-that do the trick?"

"By the time we find one, we will have most likely run into Geth units." Richard dismissed with an uncomfortable look on his face as he kept fidgeting with his armored vest.

I exhaled through my nose one more time before the cycle finished, leaving us to decide when to make our move. We stacked up on the sides of the doorway as I hit the door release. The moment the door slid open, the body of one of the marines slopped over into the doorway, shocking all of us.

"_Fuck._" Dan exclaimed under his breath as he aimed away from the body, slouching his shoulders as he looked up at the ceiling. "That's one of t-the marines."

"Looks like he got shot in the back trying to escape." I deduced from looking at the gunshot wounds in his back. "Come on, pull him in. I don't want the door closing on him."

After Dan and I had carefully pulled him into the airlock, we got a better look at the first room. The area was of fair size, lined with lockers and little else. There were no Geth that I could spot with the naked eye, though there was conductive fluid from one splattered on the wall.

"Move in, slow and carefully. Check your corners." I ordered, moving out from behind cover. "Powell, you take point. Scan for any unknown signals and keep your eye out for booby traps."

"Affirmative." He agreed, walking forward with his rifle held at the ready as we all followed behind him.

"Follow in single file, don't trail blaze." I added, doing a visual scan for any flashlight heads before we stacked up on the next door.

"Tell me again why they couldn't give us a f-fucking map of this lab?" Dan asked under his breath with clearly understood anger in his voice. "We're going in blind here."

"Dan, technically this lab doesn't even exist." I answered with a sigh, shaking my head. "All information pertaining to this lab is stored on its main computer server. Getting a schematic of this place would mean fighting our way to it."

"Any luck with accessing the network, Powell?" Richard asked, displaying proper trigger discipline much to my surprise with the Kessler handgun he carried.

"That's a negative." He replied, looking back for a moment before returning his gaze to the wall. "Either the encryption is too strong, or the Geth are actively blocking my access attempts."

"If the latter is the case, then stop now before you piss them off even more." I quickly spoke before I heard the muffled bang of a gunshot come from the other side of the door.

"Forget it, it s-sounds like we have c-company." Dan dismissed, checking the plasma canister he had loaded in his rifle before looking back to me.

"Powell will go in first, relaxed gun posture, and attempt to initiate communication with these guys." I lined out, closing my eyes for a moment as I processed my thoughts. "If they open fire, we'll lay down suppressing fire and retreat back to the airlock. If not… well, we'll figure that out later."

Dan stared at me for a moment with a raised lip before I nodded to Powell, hitting the release for the door. We all stayed behind the doorway as Powell stood his ground, aperture wide open as he stood in the open. I held my breath for several seconds, expecting either gunfire to sound or for talking to commence.

I heard undecipherable speech vibrate through the air, sounding like little else than electronic static as Powell quickly initiated contact. I held my head back, resisting the urge to sneak a peek around the corner as a reply to whatever Powell had said came back. This unintelligible conversation went back and forth once or twice over the course of thirty seconds before Powell broke his statue-like stance and looked back at us.

"They've agreed not to harm us." He said, looking back at us. "However, they will only allow me to proceed any farther into the lab. The three of you must stay here."

"What? But why?" Richard asked, looking none too pleased with the proposal.

"They are telling me that the quarians here have been running intrusive hardware and software tests on them, attempting to find weaknesses in their programming." He explained further, placing his rifle onto his back. "They are… afraid, for better lack of a word. They know there is no way out of the facility, and that the quarians won't forgive them for the deaths they have caused here."

"Whoa whoa, slow it down there." I urged, holding out one of my hands. "If they have something they want to show you, they have to show it to all of us. We need the full picture of what happened down here if we're going to get through this mess."

He stared at me for a few second before turning back to the Geth and speaking their language again. I secured my rifle into its collapsed position, slowly stepping out into the open where they could see me. It gave me the chance to see the Geth and confirm one of my suspicions.

The two units that Powell was talking to both looked as if they had been built from scraps. They looked mismatched and damaged in various ways, not at all unified or symmetrical. One of them didn't even have a left arm, and was armed only with a handgun.

The more I stared at them, the sorrier I began to feel for them.

"They've agreed to allow you in." Powell finished after several seconds, resting his eye on me. "They've warned me that any violent behavior from either of you will be met with retaliation."

"Understood." I nodded with a slightly stilted tone, looking back at Dan as he collapsed his rifle. "Just…. uh, lead the way."

We all formed in a single file line behind Powell as we walked into the lab, keeping close together in case the situation changed in any way. It was hard to ignore all the bodies that were in the room. It looked as if the team that was sent in was ambushed from all sides, leaving them no chance of escape. It was only after seeing this I barely spotted another Geth who was utilizing a cloaking device in the corner, tracking us with a rifle.

Knowing now what would have happened if we had gone in guns blazing caused me to break out in a cold sweat.

We were led quietly through several other small lab spaces, seeing that the Geth had indeed spared no one. It had been a slaughter. There were plenty more platforms walking around, collecting pieces of scrap and other potentially useful materials. I had no idea what they were getting ready for, and now I didn't want to question anything they were doing.

We eventually reached what looked like a server room. Unlike the other rooms, this one had seen no combat, and was quite chilly. We walked between several server banks to find something that looked very familiar, something I had seen before.

"That's a Geth server node, right?" I questioned as the leading Geth turned to face me. "You use them to exchange information between one another?"

The Geth stared at me for a few more moments, focusing its aperture on me before doing something I honestly hadn't expected.

"_Yes._" It answered in a distorted, but understandable voice that sounded very much like mine. "_This node in its current condition is capable of running the processes of 992 programs._"

"Why did you bring us to it?" I asked, hoping to gain more insight from it.

"_Creator Zorah and his team of 48 personnel activated this node at 6:11 PM, networking us into a series of platforms they had reconstructed for testing purposes._" It explained, standing completely stiff as it spoke. "_According to data logs recovered during and after our activation, we learned that Creator Zorah sought to test experimental electronic countermeasures on us. We retaliated, breaking the firewall and accessing all other units connected to the network._"

"And then you killed them all." Dan stated in a disgusted tone, crossing his arms. "They t-turned you on, and you killed them."

"_The Creators left us with no choice. They attempted to retrieve weapons and forcibly terminate our functions._" It argued, turning slightly to face Dan.

"It's just like the Morning War all over again…" Richard mused, shaking his head slightly as I found myself immediately confused by him.

"You mentioned that before. What is it?" I asked quickly, gaining his attention along with the Geth's.

"_Doctor Karpyshyn is referring to the war between the Creators and the Geth that began in 2485._" The Geth answered for him, causing me even greater surprise.

"Wait a minute… you know Richard?" I remarked in disbelief, not even trying to stop my eyes from shooting open.

"Yes." It responded bluntly, turning its head towards me. "_We first made contact with Doctor Karpyshyn and AI-Powell May 30__th__, 3:56 AM. We repaired Doctor Karpyshyn after he had sustained critical injuries, providing him with cybernetics and AI-Powell with a customized Geth platform for personal use._"

"And I must say, it has worked out extremely well." Powell commented with a relaxed tone, moving his fingers up and down.

"Look, as interesting as this is, we need to focus on the current situation." I redirected, knowing how easily both Richard and Powell could get wrapped up in topics. "There's a whole platoon of Migrant Fleet marines itching to lay waste to all of you in here. We need to figure out a solution, and soon."

"_We are unable to foresee an optimal outcome._" The Geth shot down, tone still quite neutral. "_Based on previous interactions with Creators, there exist a 96% certainty that regardless of what actions are taken, we will have our functions terminated attempting to leave facility._"

I suddenly found myself between a rock and a hard place. Knowing now what Rael had been doing in here and what the Geth had been through under his control, I both wanted them out of here and his research destroyed. I didn't want this kind of thing out there for all the quarians to see. But my choice would have permanent, lasting consequences.

If the Admirals discovered that I had intentionally sabotaged Rael's work, I doubt they would simply exile me. I'd be locked in a room and the room would be thrown away.

There were only two options available to us from what I could see. In one, we take the Geth out of the lab where they were almost certain to be destroyed and risk wiping the data ourselves. The second involved leaving the Geth in the lab and having Admiral Raan trigger the self-destruct sequence for Rael's lab. This guaranteed the destruction of his research but would kill the Geth in the process. Neither one of these options boded well. No matter what choice I made, the Geth would end up dead and the quarians would be imbued with an even stronger jingoistic attitude towards the Geth.

But there, a final option crossed my mind, one where the Geth could survive.

"OK, Powell, how much digital storage do you have in that platform of yours?" I asked in a quickened tone, unable to convey my thoughts fast enough.

"Currently, my crystal/silicon hybrid storage card can hold up to 28 petabytes of raw data." He answered without hesitation as everyone turned to focus on us. "My processes, memory, and other vital functions currently occupy 21 petabytes of that available space."

"Is there any way we can upload the Geth programs located in this lab to the empty space on Powell's card?" I asked even quicker as Richard and Dan's eyes both widened in surprise.

"You want to smuggle them out of the lab through Powell?" Richard questioned, crossing his arms with a curious look on his face. "That… could actually work. There may be some compatibility issues, but there should be enough space."

"_We can transfer into your card through mobile platform._" The Geth dismissed, narrowing its aperture slightly. "_We remember the processes we had to translate to integrate Doctor Karpyshyn's card reader._"

I let a smile cross my face as things finally began to look up. Then Dan spoke up, inadvertently bringing another thought to my head.

"I don't know… w-what if they decide to run a ch-check on him before letting us go?" Dan argued, not looking entirely convinced.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem." Richard dismissed, waving his hand dismissively as we walked over to the hub to get a better look at it.

"Um… before you do all of that, can you please take me to the body of Rael'Zorah?" I asked in a softer tone, not wanting to appear too forceful. "He had access to some of our project files, and I want to make sure they're manually wiped before we do this."

The Geth stopped to stare at me, widening and tightening its aperture several times before speaking up.

"_Very well, but we must move quickly. We do not have much time._" It agreed, leading me quickly out of the room at a fair jogging speed.

We passed through a storage area and into what appeared to be a firing range before we entered a smaller room with a single quarian corpse. Despite knowing already that he was dead, seeing him with my own two eyes struck me. He didn't go down without a fight, that was for sure. He was still clutching his rifle with both hands, and several platforms laid at his feet in pieces.

"_We've already eliminated all hard files related to Creator-Zorah's research._" The Geth announced, looking down at me. "_We must return to our hub._ _We anticipate future exchange of data, Doctor Michaels._"

Before I could ever say a word, its aperture shut down as the platform flopped over and clanked on the floor of the lab. My best guess was that Richard had begun the transfer. I slowly and reluctantly accessed Rael's omni-tool, not wanting to disturb his body. I was quickly met with a message that had been recorded before his death, a hologram of his face appearing in front of me, flickering in the dark of the room.

"_If you are seeing this message, it means I am dead._" Rael's distorted voice said, sounding understandably tired and distressed. "_I… didn't mean for any of this to happen, none of it. All I wanted was to lead our people back to the home world, regain what is rightfully ours. But we went too far, took too many risks. Tali… I only wanted the best for you, and I hope you'll understand why we did what we did. Please, stay safe. Keelah se'lai._"

The hologram quickly faded away, leaving only the glow of my omni-tool to illuminate Rael's cold body. I shook my head, giving him a moment of silence before I pulled out a small data chip from inside my old digital watch and inserted it into Rael's omni-tool. Inside of the chip was an automated ICE Breaker program that would hopefully penetrate his personal firewalls and rip all available data from his omni-tool. It was given to me years ago by Dimitri, left over from his spec-op development.

While I wanted Rael's research data destroyed, I didn't want to sacrifice any other project files or messages he had stored on his device. I wanted to know if the Admirals were hiding anything else from us, especially the "military circle" of Gerrel, Raan, and Rael himself. I trusted Koris and Zadie not to keep anything too important from us, but these three… I had my doubts. Once I was sure what Rael and others have been doing, I'd wipe all the data in its entirety.

Thinking about it more, the reality of what was about to happen began to set in. Rael's death would leave a void in the Admiralty Board, meaning another ship captain would have to be chosen to take his place.

I feared the implications of this. Depending on who was chosen, any number of things could happen in the realm of quarian politics.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, trying to focus on what was at hand. I quickly double-checked the files, making sure everything had been transferred before scrubbing Rael's omni-tool back down to the hardware. I unplugged the chip and inserted it back into my watch, making sure the seal was perfect. I did one last check of his body for any other pieces of tech that could be important before I laid him flat on the floor with his hands folded.

"I'm sorry about this Rael." I apologized, letting a gentle exhale go through my nose as I put my hand on top of his. "I know we had our disagreements over the years, but trust me when I say I'll protect your family's name. Goodbye, sir."

With that, I broke into a dash, making my way past several more deactivated Geth platforms before reaching Dan, Richard, and Powell again.

"Oh good, we just finished transferring all the Geth programs into his platform." Richard announced, yanking a plug from the back of Powell's head as he twitched slightly.

"How long's it been?" I asked quickly, pulling my rifle off my back again.

"Seventeen minutes, nine seconds." Dan answered with no nonsense, reading right off his own watch.

"Right, we need to make it look like we've been fighting." I said, moving towards the hub the Geth had been using and wiping the soot off it. I then rubbed it on my face and clothes, dirtying myself up a bit. "Come on, we've already wasted enough time."

They all did the same, though Dan took it a step even farther. He wiped some of the Geth "blood" off the wall and splattered his coat with it, making him look rather… gruesome.

"Fire your weapons as we move back to the airlock, overheat them!" I pushed further, looking everyone in the eye.

In unison, we all took out our respective weapons and began firing on the servers that lined the room, moving out as we fired on everything in sight. By the time we reached the room with the door, Dan and I had nearly melted the barrels of the plasma guns as they exerted a large amount of heat. Powell and Richard's guns didn't look much better.

"What are you gonna t-tell them?" Dan inquired with a curious look on his face, still not entirely confident in the plan I had decided on as I picked up a few grenades that one of the Migrant Fleet marines had been carrying.

"Well, that's the big question, isn't it?" I said out the corner of my mouth as we walked into the locker room. "We're all gonna rush in there, exhausted and panicked, and yell that the lab needs to be detonated before they get through the door. With luck, Raan will immediately take out word for it and activate the demo charges, ending the current situation."

"And what if our luck is not so great?" Richard quickly retorted as I walked around the Migrant Fleet marine's body to open the airlock door.

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to make something up on the fly." I shrugged, ushering everyone into the airlock as I armed the grenades, chucking them through the doorway as the airlock closed behind us. "Powell, how you holding up with all our new friends in there?"

"I'm discussing the validity of our plan as we speak." He answered with a noticeable delay, staring ahead for a moment before looking at me. "We're ready."

"Right then. Let's hope this works." I remarked, crossing my fingers as I cycled the airlock, feeling my heart rate pick back up as the chemical jets and UV light in the room cleansed us. The moment both stopped, I felt my chest become stiff as I prepared to put on one of the best acting performances I could ever muster.

The door slid open, flooding our vision with light as we ran out of the airlock, faking labored breath as several marines and the two Admirals ran over to us. Powell kept his back towards the perimeter they had set up, "covering" the door with his rifle as we plopped to the floor.

"Keelah, what happened in there?!" Raan shouted, running over to me as I quickly pulled myself up and got in her face.

"You've got to detonate the charges now!" I shouted in the most frantic voice I could manage, doing my best to give her deranged eyes. "There's too many of them! They're coming through!"

With sudden surprise, she looked at Gerrel who had similar movements displayed. Clearly, both hadn't expected this to happen.

"Is he serious?" Gerrel inquired, still needing one more push.

"Are you fucking nuts? Of c-course he's serious! Blow it!" Dan yelled with widened eyes, attracting the Admirals to his blood-splattered clothes.

The next few moments were fast, and happened seemingly in less than a minute. Gerrel shouted for the men to move back as we were pulled back to our feet and run down the empty hallway. Seconds later, my ears were jolted by a series of explosions that tore through Rael's lab, one of which blew the airlock doors directly open. A jet of flame burst into the open space, creating a backdraft that filled the air with heat and covered the walls with soot.

Once everything was said and done, nothing but twisted, burnt metal and rock was left. Everything had been thoroughly destroyed.

If it weren't for the sudden headache I had developed, I would have smiled.

…

CASTLE Base, December 1st, 3:51 PM, 2184

…

All of us sat quietly in the medical level of CASTLE Base, having been checked over for injuries. Of course, they found none, but had issued painkillers anyway. The mood all around was as somber as I expected it to be, but I wouldn't mince words. None of this had to happen. Rael was the one who pushed his team into doing those experiments, and they all paid the price for it. I watched each second pass by on my old digital watch, examining each digit through the cracked glass that protected it.

I had already cobbled together a story in my head to tell the Admirals, knowing they'd want to know every solitary detail of our "experience." I could only hope the questions were short and… non-evasive. They had no reason to think I'd lie about anything that happened in there.

Right on time, I saw them enter the exam room I occupied looking none too pleased. Even without hearing them, I could see Gerrel was furious over the result of our trip, and Raan didn't look much better. As soon as they came in, they wordlessly took seats across from me trying best to avoid eye contact until they were ready to speak.

"Sean, we want to know exactly what happened down there." Gerrel began, slowly pulling his head up to look at me with folded hands. "What happened that required the destruction of all of Rael's work?"

I stared long and hard at him, keeping my face entirely expressionless before giving him an answer.

"Well as it turns out, the Geth that had occupied Rael's lab were of the "heretic" variety." I answered slowly and with deliberation, making sure not to make any unnatural facial movements. "They were Geth that once followed Saren Arterius, hostile to anyone that wasn't part of his circle. Once activated, they immediately used Reaper-enhanced system intrusion tools to shatter the firewalls and take over the lab."

"How do you know all this, and moreover how did you spend so much time in there without getting slaughtered like the squad we initially sent in?" Raan asked with an even more confused tone, shaking her head slightly.

"Powell did most of the work while we stayed back in the locker room. They saw his platform, attempted contact, then realized he was an A.I. as advanced as the "old ones" they worship." I lied, making sure not to jiggle my leg as I forced myself to stay calm. "We were going to attempt a retake of the lab, but once Powell had been in there for a while probing them for information he realized there were well over a hundred functional platforms getting ready to storm the airlock."

"If you were in the locker room and he was inside, when did the shooting start?" Gerrel inquired, still very much confused.

"The shooting began when Powell tried to leave." I went on as I began to crack my knuckles individually. "He rushed his way back to the airlock while we pushed into the main room to clear a hole and cover his escape. We barely managed to hold them off, even with the plasma guns. We used some of the grenades one of the marines had been carrying to cover our escape through the airlock."

The room grew uncomfortably quiet as Raan and Gerrel looked at one another, exchanging glances before focusing back on me.

"I assume there were no survivors, Captain?" Raan remarked somberly, knowing full well that either answer I gave her would have had the same meaning after what we had done to the lab.

"Zero." I answered truthfully, making fists as I brought them up to my face. "It was just as you feared. They were all gone before we even got there."

"Rael was a good friend." Gerrel said in a low voice, looking back down at the floor. "I can't believe after all these years this is what happens to him."

"I'm sorry sir." I apologized, not knowing what to say."

"Captain, I know it may not mean much coming from me, but I genuinely thank you and your team for at least trying to see if there was something that could be done to lessen this... incident." Gerrel said, mildly shocking me as he stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me and Admiral Raan, there's a lot of… work that needs to be done. The fallout from this has only begun."

"Understood, sir." I acknowledged, nodding to him as I stood up and shook both their hands.

As they walked out of the exam room and left me by myself again, I felt both an intense sense of relief and a strong sense of dread wash over me.

Gerrel wasn't wrong. There would be long-lasting fallout over this, and I was afraid we'd have a front row seat for all of it.

...

**A/N: I debated with myself for a long time what I would do with Rael. Part of my always felt that his character was more antagonistic in nature, but part of me also believed it was simply his xenophobia projecting itself on Sean and his team. Rael has only allowed them to do things that benefit him and his people in the long run. I believed no matter what happened, he was always going to die trying to take the quick way to "victory", and ultimately served his personality well. **

**This chapter went through two re-writes, and I feel like I finally condensed it down to something worthwhile. Work hasn't been making anything easier, and my struggles with college have left me doubting my place in the educational system. Still, things could be worse. I hope the wait was worth it, and I wish everyone a good day as they read this.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, and I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	44. Cacophony

…

"In eternity, where there is no time, nothing can grow. Nothing can become. Nothing changes. So Death created time to grow the things that it would kill... and you are reborn but into the same life that you've always been born into. I mean, how many times have we had this conversation, detectives? Well, who knows? When you can't remember your lives, you can't change your lives, and that is the terrible and the secret fate of all life. You're trapped... like a nightmare you keep waking up into."

(Rust Cohle)

…

CASTLE Base, December 12th, 12:30 PM, 2184

…

"939,259 psi and climbing." Johnathan announced from the nearby console as me, him, and Dimitri tested the stress limits of the new holding clamps for the Desant-class dropships. We elected to use a physical connection alongside the magnetic locks for redundancy sake, knowing a magnetic connection by itself was unreliable.

Normally, the clamps wouldn't run at such high levels considering it only took 903,223 psi to securely hold a single 70-ton mech. But, since these were built here and not somewhere else, we needed to know their full tolerances if they were going to be thrown into military situations.

I was thoroughly impressed with Johnathan's work so far. Looking at everything he's written up, he was incredibly skilled in engineering, especially when it came to large industrial equipment. He had custom-designed these clamps just for this project.

"Release the pressure the moment it breaks." I ordered, pacing back and forth as I watched the piston ahead of me for any changes. "How's it looking, Dimi?"

"Tolerances far better than originally anticipated, though I expect failure any second now." Dimitri mused, darting his eyes between the clamps and his datapad.

I watched closely as a deep groan vibrated through the air, culminating in the seals breaking, spraying hydraulic fluid all over the hangar floor.

"Боже!" Dimitri shouted from the scaffolding above, too distant for my translator to properly interpret before getting closer. "How high was pressure?"

"Approximately… 978,196 psi. Right within my projected tolerance range." Johnathan answered with a wide smile on his face, dimples immediately visible as he looked at me. "Should I send the results to the private server?"

"Yes, and hand me a hard copy at your earliest convenience." I replied, rolling up my sleeves so I could better cool off in the summer air. Not a moment too soon, either.

Admiral Gerrel walked into the hanger before the fluid had even finished dripping down from our test, walking with a stride that immediately cued me into the fact that he wanted to make this trip quick. He had ordered accelerated production on our dropships less than a week ago, and I had subsequently cost us many hours of sleep. Part of me wanted to yell at the man until I was blue in the face, but now wasn't a good time to cause trouble.

The political and military fallout over Rael's death was still very "up in the air" in terms of stability. There were a lot of strong opinions and emotions going around, and the circumstances behind it were not helping one bit. Many who had previously advocated for starting another war with the Geth hadn't even waited until the bodies were cold before using their deaths as a platform to voice their opinions. I found it deeply sickening.

On the other end, something else happened that I hadn't predicted. Significant numbers of ship captains who had voiced support for me and my team in the past wanted to use this event to further development on our defensive projects. Seeing how quickly things took a turn in Rael's lab gave them the impression that we were getting too complacent.

This had honestly surprised me at the time. With further support, we could silently slow down our military projects and keep the focus on our civil projects, the first being Biss's research mission to Haestrom which I had already gotten authorization to set up before this started. The timing of it couldn't have been any better either.

After modifying one of the old scout ships with a janky, but functional stealth system, I had Biss, Powell, two other researchers he had asked to come along, and a five-man marine detail sent away on the mission, one that had a flexible time schedule. The obvious objective was for Biss to either confirm or disprove his theories regarding Haestrom's star, but the second was for Powell to clandestinely contact the Geth and return the programs from Rael's lab to the Collective.

I knew with Powell there to explain everything that had happened, the team would be safe from any Geth interference during the duration of their mission. He might even be able to gleam more information about the Reapers from them in the process.

I shook my head as I forced my thoughts to the back of the queue. It was already bad enough that everyone else was picking the bones of Rael and his research team, I didn't want to let myself get worried about them too when there was nothing I could do about it.

"Captain, I see your tests are… proceeding as planned." Gerrel mused as the clamp let out another small groan.

"Slowly but surely." I reassured in a nonchalant tone, folding both of my hands behind my back. "Is there something I can help you with, sir?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is." He confirmed, looking over at the two rows of Dragoon mechs that were being worked on diligently by the base's volunteers. "Admiral Hackett is scheduled to visit in a few days for a meeting with the Conclave and Admiralty Board regarding problems with the Alliance's outer colonies."

"Problems, sir?" I questioned, knowing as usual there was more to what he was saying.

"From the few reports I've read, several human colonies in the Terminus have been going dark, their entire populations disappearing." He explained in further detail, crossing his arms. "While I don't see it as a problem worthy of our attention, Hackett has suggested it could be the work of Cerberus. Now we must hold a meeting to decide if joint action is necessary."

The annoyance in his voice was as clear as day. He could care less about innocent people going missing if they weren't his people. I bit the inside of my mouth, trying to suppress the urge to counter what he was saying.

"Regardless, I want you to make sure all the channels around the base keep quiet regarding what happened. We don't need the Alliance hearing about our security breach and sticking their noses further into our buissness." He ordered, pointing one of his fingers at me. "Is that understood, Captain?"

"Yes sir." I agreed without hesitation, keeping my back as straight as a plank.

"Good. I'll expect a full report on the Desant progress by tomorrow." He finished, letting his arms hang back to his side as he turned heel and walked away.

It was hard for me to contain my dislike for that man. Part of me felt he was only a few steps away from going something drastic like Rael had done, but another part suggested he had more common sense than that. Still, I believed that given enough time, he'd do something stupid that would endanger everyone.

Either way, I had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. I mentally prepped myself for another night of no sleep.

…

Frisson, December 14th, 11:43 AM, 2184

…

I rolled up my sleeves again as hot, humid air blew through the fans around me. I had to keep reminding myself that it was December, unable to shake the feeling that all of this was wrong even as I was being given the run-down of Captain Meera'Bols vas Frisson's lovely, but hot greenhouses.

Frisson, like nearly all the settlements established on Reach during its initial colonization, was named after the ship the townsfolk originally lived and served on. Shortly after establishing their foothold here in these massive plains, they began construction on several dozen self-contained greenhouses where Quarian food could be grown safely without fear of outside contamination.

"Captain, what do you think of our facilities here?" Captain Meera inquired as I snapped my attention back to the tour at hand.

"They're very well built. Plenty of sunshine, good water irrigation, and a perfectly acceptable internal temperature." I critiqued, doing my best to point out things that I liked. "My best guess is that the cause of your troubles in domes 12, 13, and 15 can be pinned on the large number of phosphates contained in the soil."

"We checked the phosphate levels and they appeared normal for this particular genus of plant." She argued as I pursed my lips.

"Perhaps in the Liveships, yes, but the planet's gravity causes the roots to grow deeper into the ground, resulting in more phosphates being absorbed from the soil." I countered, showing her the quick analysis I had doctored up on my personal datapad. "Your phosphate levels must be lowered in order to get the best growth from these plants."

"Strange, I don't understand how we could have missed something like this." She pondered, placing her hand underneath the tip of her helmet in thought.

"I wouldn't worry about it; your settlement isn't the only one that's had this problem." I reassured, handing her a copy of the data I had compiled last month. "I'll have my team treat your soil and plant new samples that we've modified in our labs."

"Thank you, Captain." She thanked, offering me a handshake which I quickly accepted. "Should I call you if we experience any more problems?"

"Of course, though I doubt you'll have many more problems after this." I smiled behind my helmet, looking out the overhead windows into the sky.

I had come down to the eastern territories for two reasons. One was to have our botany team at CASTLE Base find out what was wrong with their crops, and the other was to build up more support for our civil projects in the northern regions.

My goal was to design a modern city that could be called the capital of Reach, but that would be a long shot even with full support in both the Conclave and Admiralty Board. If I was to get the support base needed for something of that magnitude, I'd need to work on smaller civil endeavors, things like dams, bridges, and possibly even roads to build confidence in the leaders of settlements such as Frisson.

It would be a long time until the city of Windham could realistically be conceived. It would be my ultimate tribute to Jack and the mentorship he shared with all of us.

Before I could continue my conversation with Meera, my omni-tool began beeping with an emergency tone from Miranda, something I wasn't expecting at all. I quickly excused myself, finding a quiet corner of the greenhouse before picking up.

"What's going on, Miri?" I asked, making sure to speak clearly so I could be heard properly through my facemask.

"_We need you up here in the lab, there's been a major development with Shepard that we want to go over with you immediately._" She laid out with no a no nonsense, neutral tone. "_Also, there's something else I need to discuss with you in private afterwards._"

"Understood, I'll be there as soon as I can." I agreed, ending the call as quickly as it began as the engine that was my brain began chugging once more.

If Miranda of all people had used our emergency team channel, that was proof-positive that something major had just happened. I sucked in the filtered air though my mask before bidding my goodbyes to Meera and the botanists before running back outside to my shuttle where Dan was waiting, sprawled out in the cockpit with the AC cranked all the way up to its highest setting.

"Wow, you're b-back early." He remarked, putting down his datapad as I hung my mask back on the wall. "What's happening?"

"Something big has happened upstairs with Shepard according to Miranda." I announced, strapping myself into the seat next to him. "We're going to visit the _Cairo_, my friend."

"Fun times. I c-can only imagine w-what happened if the ice qu… queen herself messaged you." He joked, revving up the engines as we slowly lifted off the ground. "Meeting go well?"

"Yes, it was the same problem the last three settlements have been dealing with." I replied, pulling my datapad back out. "I can't really blame them for not knowing, we had to do lab tests ourselves to find out this was an actual problem."

"You also f-forget that the gravity on Rannoch is slightly low… lower than it is here." He added, glancing over at me as we accelerated towards the sky.

"See, it's not just that. I've noticed a pattern here." I began to explain, going through pages of notes on my datapad until I came across a map. "By Earth standards, all the settlements that have experienced this problem lie in or around the Tropic of Cancer, about a 200-mile radius above and below. I don't know if I could chalk that up to coincidence or not."

"It could be the m-magnetic field is not as strong there d-during the summer season." He suggested as the sky tore away in front of us, giving way to the blue nebula that engulfed the Klenot system. "You know, the tilt of the p-poles?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I'd have to do more research." I finished, collapsing my datapad as we soared past the orbital drydocks, taking in the awe-inspiring view of the Fleet in low orbit around Reach before switching on the comm unit and pinging the _Cairo_. "Cairo Station, this is Captain Sean'Michaels vas Explorer requesting permission to land in one of your shuttle bays, over."

"Copy that, Captain." I quickly got back from what sounded like a new radio operator. "Shuttle Bay 2-Delta is available, I'll notify the crews that you're on your way."

"Roger that, _Cairo_. Captain Michaels, out." I finished, looking over at Dan who nodded as he took control once more. "Clean bill of health, it seems."

"Slow day." Dan remarked off hand as we pulled into the station, landing with a gentle thump.

We didn't waste any time making our way to the lab module, not even stopping fully to accept the salute of several Migrant Fleet Marines. Once in the airlock, I pulled my mask off once more and ran my fingers through my hair which was still stuck together from the sweating I had done not too long ago.

Back in the lab, I immediately saw Miranda, Richard, Hans, and Mineko all gathered around one of the operating tables. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was they were focused on.

"Sean, there you are." Richard quickly greeted, walking away from the group to us. "You would not believe what's begun to happen."

My eyebrows shot up in the air the moment the puzzle pieces snapped together.

"He's alive?" I questioned with a heavy amount of skepticism, crossing my arms.

"Not in the conventional sense, but close enough." Hans said, tapping a pair of reading glasses against the palm of his free hand before looking back to Shepard's body on the table. "Basic brain activity has returned, though this doesn't mean he'll be up and walking soon."

I got closer, taking a better look at him. He was hooked up to an ungodly amount of equipment, still quite scarred but resembling a person. The implants Miranda had inserted into his body glowed a dull orange through his skin, and an artificial diaphragm kept air moving through his lungs in regular intervals.

"I can't believe you sons of bitches have done it." I exclaimed with a wide smile. "How much longer until he can realistically… function again?"

"We still have quite a way to go, sir." Mineko answered, clutching a clipboard tightly between her hands. "Though basic functions have been restored, it'll be at least a month before he can do anything without mechanical assistance."

I rubbed my forehead, still barely able to wrap my head around the feat that had been achieved this day. They had brought a man back from the dead.

"Sean, there is something else I do wish to speak to you about. In private." Miranda urged, eyes dead set on me.

"Alright." I agreed, walking to a deserted corner of the lab with her. "What's up?"

"Seeing as how Shepard is going to be up and walking around soon, I wanted to go over something else that I had been doing before the events on Minuteman Station." She started, standing very straight as I maintained my own posture. "You know about the colonies disappearing in the Terminus Systems?"

"I've heard various news stories, but all of it is just speculation." I replied, cocking one of my eyebrows as I wondered what she was getting at. "Why? Is there something that Cerberus knows that we don't?"

"Well, The Illusive Man was, and likely still is convinced that the Reapers are behind it in some way." She explained, pulling out a datapad. "One of my jobs was to assemble a team of highly-skilled individuals that Shepard would seek out and recruit to combat this threat."

"Interesting. Hopefully these were going to be voluntary?" I shot back in a mildly snide tone, as she shot me a quick glare and gripped her datapad harder.

"I decided on these fourteen possible individuals, some of which have worked with Shepard in the past." She displayed on her datapad with accompanying profiles she had reconstructed. "The idea was that a competent team of people without major ties to Cerberus would better "break in" Shepard to the organization."

"Because of his history with Cerberus in the past, I understand." I said, nodding as I scrolled through several of the names until I ran across two that really hit home.

Both me and Tali'Zorah were on this list, something I had honestly not expected. I focused harder on my profile wanting to read its full detail.

…

/ / **Name** / /

Sean L. Michaels

/ / **History** / /

Attended MIT, ScD.

Joined Alliance Task Force Cerebellum with Dr. Daniel Nemo.

Fled with other science personnel to quarian Migrant Fleet.

/ / **Psychological Profile** / /

Intuitive-Logical Extratim

/ / **Combat Experience** / /

Skilled in small-arm usage and mixed unit tactics. Observed to be pragmatic in combat situations.

/ / **Cerberus Database** / /

Doctor Michaels is a brilliant scientist, inventor, and diplomat if his interactions with the Quarians are any indication. He and his team are behind revolutionary technological breakthroughs such as the NM Reactor System, Gravity Drive, plasma manipulation, and more. Due to negative interactions in the past between Cerberus and Dr. Michaels, it is recommended that recruitment should focus solely on Reaper threat to appeal to altruistic mindset.

…

I narrowed my eyes for a moment as I read the last line, looking between it and Miranda.

"Cerberus actually planned on approaching me again after all the shit they put us through?" I questioned with a dumb smile, looking back at Miranda who sported her usual unamused expression. "Appeal to altruistic mindset?"

"That was then, this is now, is it not?" Miranda redirected, taking the datapad back before I could even protest. "Either way, I still believe that creating this team would be of great benefit to Shepard… also, he'll need a ship and a crew. Our shipbuilders on Minuteman were in the process of laying down a ship before being attacked."

"So, that's what that was… huh, I hadn't thought of that." I mused, looking down at the floor as I pondered the sudden problem in my head. "Well, we won't have the time to build one from scratch. If I play my cards right, I might be able to secure our second Phantom-class stealth frigate for him."

"That would be perfect. Its enhanced stealth capabilities would suit the Commander perfectly." She agreed, pulling out another list on her datapad. "The crew was originally going to be human in makeup, though now I believe any crew would have to be quarian."

"Not necessarily." I stopped, holding up one finger. "These are all Alliance personnel, correct?"

She nodded quickly without a word before I continued.

"Hackett is coming for another visit soon. What you can do is select a handful of these individuals to be transferred here to the new ship, and I'll get some of our best volunteers from the Fleet to create a joint human-quarian crew." I explained in further detail, poking her datapad for emphasis as I cocked one of my eyebrows into the air. "The best of both worlds, so to speak."

"Not a bad idea, considering quarians and their talent with engineering." She said, looking at her list one more time before freezing her eyes on me. "I'll select the candidates that I believe are the most qualified, then send them to your omni-tool."

I sighed, giving her a quick nod as our conversation ended. I knew for a fact that I had just set myself up for three more headaches, but at least I had a clear-cut objective to accomplish.

I needed to get the Commander a ship and a crew before he woke up. Hell, with all the bitching and complaining I did about my headaches, I could only imagine how bad his would feel when he came to.

…

Phantom-Class Frigate, December 24th, 9:17 AM, 2184

…

Admiral Hackett's visit to the Fleet on the 17th had been a short, but relatively productive one by my standards. While he was unable to secure any quarian support for colony defense in the Terminus due to our vacancy in the Admiralty Board, he succeeded in arranging several new trade routes between the Alliance and Flotilla in exchange for more technical data.

Once I had told him about Shepard's progress and our plan to set him up with a ship and a crew, he quickly agreed to gather up all the people Miranda had requested and have them brought here. The Admirals were not happy with our idea to set up who they still saw as a dead man with one of their most advanced warships, but in the end the benefits of the deal outweighed the negatives.

I had walked around the interior of the unnamed frigate slowly, examining each and every one of the little details as I waited to personally greet the human crew members who would be joining us here today. The ship's interior reminded me of a submarine in some regards. Certain areas were very tightly packed together and confined, while others resembled what one would normally see aboard a modern starship, with open space and even the rare window. I had a few creature comforts installed from the supplies Hackett had sent us as well, anticipating it would likely be needed for the journey.

The bare crew would consist of 36 people, 18 humans, 18 quarians. That wasn't our total capacity, but I wanted to leave plenty of breathing room for all the specialists that we planned to bring onto the crew.

The dossiers Miranda have shown me give me the impression that some of these individuals are more than a little… eccentric.

It didn't help that I was also on that list. For better or worse, I'd likely have to make a spot for myself on this ship. Miranda, despite her mannerisms and painfully supremacist attitude, had selected me to be part of this crew too. While I still had my reservations about traveling out-of-system, part of me also wanted to get out into the world again, see if there were other problems out there that I could solve.

Also, knowing these soldier-types, they were gonna need someone with a brain between their ears to figure out the more technical parts of a threat as complicated and illusive as the Reapers.

It would be hard not seeing my friends for extended periods of time, especially my wife and daughter, but there had to be at least one of us here. I planned on leaving Dimitri and Dan in charge of our military projects, and Mara in charge of everything else. All I had to do was clear it with the Admirals.

For the moment, stood in the hanger with my hands behind my back, quarian crew members standing in formation along with Miranda. I hand-picked the crew of men and women behind me, most of whom have worked at CASTLE Base before and displayed great skill in their respective fields. I selected them on two criteria, the first being said skill, and the second being their personal belief in the Reapers as a threat. They were perfect for this role.

As the two shuttles pulled into the ship, landing with gentle thumps, I clenched my hands slightly tighter. I had each of these people triple-screened by the Alliance, but I knew even the best tests couldn't weed out all Cerberus infiltrators. I trusted Miranda to an extent, but you never knew with these people.

It didn't take long for them to disembark from the shuttles, moving into a straight line without a single word being said on my part. I stood still for a moment, looking at each of their faces before breaking from my spot.

"Welcome aboard, crewmen." I greeted, hands still glued behind my back as I began walking to the left end of the line they had formed. "I know you've all been briefed regarding the assignment here, but for clarity sake, who here can tell me what we're going here?"

Several raised their hands in response. I picked a younger woman with brown hair who looked to be in her late twenties.

"Sir, we're here to fight the Reapers!" The woman said, nearly shouting as my eyebrows went up.

"Well, that is certainly one of our goals, crewman. What's your name?" I asked, walking directly to her.

"Sarah Patel, sir." She answered in a much calmer voice, standing at perfect attention.

"Well Sarah, beating the Reapers is just one of our overall goals." I explained, looking up and down the line again before focusing on her. "Until we can find out what they're doing, our primary objective is to show both the Alliance and the Admiralty Board the benefits of mixed crews. I want all of you, human and quarian, to get to know each other like brothers and sisters. Be examples of what our continued cooperation can become in the future. Any questions?"

"Sir, what about Commander Shepard?" One of the crewmen, this time a bald man in his thirties, asked. "When will he be joining us?"

In response to the question, I looked back at Miranda who immediately stepped forward.

"As outlined in your briefings, the voyage will not begin until Commander Shepard has finished recovering from his injuries." She answered in a cold, robotic tone that somehow even annoyed me slightly. "He will join us in a few weeks."

With her response, I looked back to the line of men and woman, seeing if there were any more questions. One more did raise their hand, a much older woman with graying hair. I already knew who she was from her dossier. She was Dr. Karin Chakwas, formerly stationed aboard the _Normandy_ during Shepard's original mission.

From what Hackett had told me, she jumped ship from her job at the Mars Naval Medical Center the moment she was told she'd get to work with Shepard again.

"Yes, doctor?" I quickly accepted, pointing at her with one hand before quickly putting it behind my back again.

"Will we have access to the same kind of medical suite we had on the _Normandy_? At the time, it was considered state-of-the-art." She finished, causing my eyebrows to shoot up slightly.

"Trust me, my wife would kill me if we weren't using the best equipment available." I reassured, allowing myself to smile as several of the crewmen chuckled. "Regardless, we have plenty of time before the mission begins. If there's anything you need that isn't there, tell me and I'll make sure you get it the next day."

She gave me a simple, slow nod as the hanger once more filled with the ambient hum of the reactor.

"Right then, if there are no more questions, gather your personal items and get familiar with your stations." I ordered, allowing my hands to finally hang at my sides. "There's plenty of sleeping space, so hot bunking will not be an issue, and double check the labels on rations before opening them. Dismissed!"

With that, everyone dispersed, grabbing their duffel bags and moving on. Once everyone had left the hanger, I looked back at Miranda and cocked one of my eyebrows.

"Well, they seem to be an interesting lot." I commented, looking back at the elevator door before turning back to her. "I sure do hope they all get along."

"If there's anyone who won't get along, they'll come from your chosen crew, not mine." She rebuked with a sharp eyebrow raise, causing me to silently shake my head in denial.

"Regardless, I have to make sure the logistics of this are properly handled." I said, popping my neck on both sides before letting out a sigh. "From here on out, I want daily updates on his condition. The sooner he's up and about again, the sooner we can find out if the Reapers are behind what's been happening to our colonies in the Terminus."

She nodded once as we departed for the elevator.

All we had to do now was wait.

…

**A/N: Sorry if the chapter took a while to come out, I got a new job that's been kicking my ass pretty good for a while now. It's not a bad job, but it takes some getting used to. Also, happy late 4****th**** of July to all my American readers!**

**Things are happening pretty quickly now. We're on the fast track to beginning the events of Mass Effect 2 soon, and I can't wait to show the changes that'll be happening soon.**

**As always, I'd love to read any reviews, and I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	45. Revival

…

"Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you're here. That's... that's just an awful feeling."

(Elijah Price)

…

Phantom-Class Frigate, December 27th, 8:47 AM, 2184

…

I sat down on one of the stools in the ship's science lab, picking up a datapad that had been left on the table and reading from it. It listed all the equipment that was currently installed here, down to the OS the terminal ran on. I was happy to see everything I had requisitioned was installed, even the terahertz scanner. It was all state-of-the-art, only the best for the upcoming mission.

I was making the effort to try and make personal contact with the human half of our crew. I was already well acquainted with the other half, having worked with them at CASTLE Base before asking if they wanted to join this mission. So far, everyone was very cooperative and competent, being able to answer any questions I asked without trouble. There was only one man I hadn't talked to yet, and that was Jeff Moreau, our Flight Lieutenant.

I was impressed with his CSV. Even before piloting the Normandy he had garnered a reputation as one of, if not the best, pilots in the Alliance Navy. He pulled Shepard out of some hot situations, and performed countless combat drops during his time under him, even managing to pull one off with only twenty meters of space. That factoid was impressive.

I put the datapad back, opening my omni-tool to view the map of the ship once more. The still unnamed ship had four decks, all laid out in "boomerang" shapes. I liked it over the _Explorer_ for a few different reasons, mostly better use of space. Depending on where you were in the ship, it felt more like a submarine.

Deck 1 was where the CIC, bridge, science lab, and communications/briefing room were all located. It was also the location of our two airlocks at the tips of the "wings". If we ever had to defend from boarders, they'd have to go through an energy barrier and a remote-controlled ceiling turret. The science lab, where I was, was right next to one of them.

Deck 2 held the med lab, clean room, mess hall, recreation room, sleeping quarters, and the Captain's quarters. The bunks were a mix of human and quarian styles, ending up something like what you'd find in a capsule hotel. They were compact and numerous enough that everyone got their own private space. The rec area near the front of the ship featured a skylight, holo terminal, and a bar which I had provided all the vices for.

Deck 3 and Deck 4 bled into each other slightly. Deck 3 focused on engineering, life support, light storage, and garbage disposal while Deck 4 was the hanger and armory. Both decks shared the bulk of the NM reactor, gravity drive, and plasma management system. A series of maintenance ducts made accessing any of these relatively simple.

The ship came armed with standard fare, overlapping GARDIAN arrays and mass accelerator cannons. Its secret was the series of hidden, retractable heavy turrets in the hull that could be used to defend the top or bottom of the ship depending on the situation. For propulsion, it used four high-power antiproton engines. We were originally going to use our experimental plasma engines, but we decided they needed more testing before being used on a ship like this.

I walked down the hallway, passing two crewmen, a human and a quarian, who were having an involved conversation regarding the weapon systems. I remembered their names, Vadim Rolston and Inoe'Whilk. Vadim was a man in his late twenties who was assigned to the CIC, brown hair and brown eyes. He primarily worked in monitoring enemy communications. Inoe was assigned to Engineering, and was among the first generation of quarians not to go on their traditional Pilgrimage. She was wearing one of the new envirosuits, having given it a green and black paintjob.

"Oh, hello Captain!" Inoe greeted as I neared, stopping in her tracks as Vadim did the same. "How are you? You're here awfully early today."

"I didn't have anything better to do, really." I replied, nodding as I stuck my left hand into my coat pocket. "Besides, I need to get used to the ship, seeing as I'll be joining the crew too."

"I couldn't ask for a better ship to be on, sir." Vadim said, cracking a smile. "All of this is incredible. I've never seen a design like this before."

"Well, if you ever see my friend Dr. Nemo, you'll have to tell him how much you appreciate it." I smiled back, looking past the two of them down the hallway. "Say, can either of you two tell me if Mr. Moreau is awake yet? I've been meaning to talk to him."

"Mr. Moreau?" Inoe questioned for a second before Vadim quickly interjected.

"He's referring to Joker." He clarified, looking back to me. "Yeah, I saw him go to the cockpit not too long ago. He's still there."

"Thank you." I finished, nodding to both as I made my way into the CIC. "Joker... huh."

The CIC was about the same size as it was in the Explorer, but with a few exceptions. Instead of being situated around the edges of the room, the stations were now focused in the middle. This was intended to keep communication between everyone better coordinated and to conserve space. It had yet to be proven in a real combat situation, so I held random drills daily that were intended to test both the reaction time and cooperation of our crew. So far, they had performed beautifully.

The cockpit was much closer to the CIC than before, but was still separated by another door. It was built like a panic room, protected by an extra foot of titanium armor and boasting its own temporary life support system. If the occasion ever presented itself, it could even be locked down by another energy barrier.

I opened the door, immediately getting a good look at the fleet shipyards outside through the segmented window panels. Dan based them off the Ranger spaceplane from Interstellar. The second thing that caught my eye was Joker himself, who turned his seat around to face me.

"Oh, it's you." He remarked with dull surprise, shuffling slightly in his seat. "Hey there Captain."

"Hello Joker." I greeted, crossing my arms as I focused all my attention on him. "Sorry I haven't personally greeted you sooner, I've been swamped by political bullshit."

"I understand. I've heard tangling with those Admirals is like trying to escape from a box filled with rabid cats. Very angry, hairless cats." He joked, managing to get a smile out of me.

"Hell, if it weren't for Hackett, the rest of the galaxy would still be wondering what happened to all the hairless cats." I shot back, crossing my arms as I leaned against the wall next to him. "Regardless, we've gotten a lot done in a short amount of time. I'm satisfied with my work."

"Yeah, what kind of work do you do when you're not building giant guns and breaking the laws of physics?" He questioned in a slightly mocking manner. "The stuff on the Normandy was state-of-the art, but this new stuff scares me. Before I know it, half of the ship and the planet will disappear."

"Heh, WMDs weren't really on my list of things to do, but I'm content with everyone thinking I have the capacity." I said, smiling hard enough that my dimples appeared. "But seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. It's the safest version of our Gen III reactor system yet."

"I'll take your word for it." He dismissed, looking up and out the window before focusing on me once more. "Can you tell me when will I get the chance to put this bird through a real test? I can only simulate flight so many ways, you know."

"Unfortunately, I can't launch the ship until the bloodsuckers up above tell me I can." I shot down, taking in another breath of air as Joker frowned.

"Man, that sucks." He finished, shaking his head in disappointment. "I suppose after what happened to Rael they've been a bit more uppity."

"You know about that?" I questioned, cocking my eyebrow as I folded my arms.

"Yeah, I heard two of the guys below talking about it while I was eating lunch." He explained, moving his shoulders up and down slightly as he tried to get more comfortable. "Said he and his team were killed by Geth in their own lab."

"I'd rather not talk about it." I shot down quickly, not wanting to think about the events that transpired in that lab again. "I was the one who ordered the destruction of his lab, I don't need to hear how it went down."

"Sorry, it's just what I heard." He quickly apologized, holding up both hands. "I can only imagine how devastated Tali must be over this… it was her father, right?"

I locked eyes with him, squeezing my lips together before giving him a silent nod of confirmation. He sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, I suppose I should end this conversation before it gets any more depressing." He said, leaning forward and holding out his right hand to shake. I grasped it gently, giving it a light shake before letting go.

"I'll be seeing you around, Joker." I remarked, walking out of the cockpit as he rotated his chair so he was facing his controls again.

My brief conversation with Joker suddenly brought two things back to my mind as I walked back through the CIC. The first was Tali and her impending arrival in a few days, and the second was the raw research data still hidden inside of my wristwatch.

I wasn't looking forward to dealing with either two of these things.

…

Serenity Valley, December 31st, 8:34 AM, 2184

…

"Man, you are just a messy little spud, aren't you?" I said with a smile, wiping baby food off Elle's chin. "I haven't seen an eater as messy as this since high school."

"She'll get better." Mara replied with a smile, taking a sip from her coffee cup. "Taking another visit to the ship today?"

"No, I was planning on staying home actually." I answered, turning to face her. "I wanted to work on fixing that water leak in our air conditioning unit. It's starting to leave a streak on the side of the house."

"Sounds like an easy fix." She nodded, taking in a mouthful of cereal before picking up her datapad again. I turned my head back to Elle once more as she squealed, clapping her hands together.

"OK, OK, I'll give you free reign." I said to the small child, picking her up out of her booster seat and plopping her back down on the floor. She immediately started crawling towards the couch, which seemed to be her favorite place to go now. Finn and Darcy immediately ran over to her and began licking her face as she giggled.

"I think she has your nose." Mara remarked, looking up from her datapad with a smile. "It has that Slavic shape to it."

"You think so?" I questioned, feeling the tip of my nose. "I think she has your hair."

She smiled back at me before I sat back down at the table to finish my coffee. I remembered growing up hating raisin bran more than anything, but as I grew older it grew on me. It wasn't great, but it was certainly better with milk.

"So… how much longer until Miranda's little pet project up there is finished?" Mara inquired with thinly veiled disgust in her voice.

"It could be as soon as a week and a half at the rate they're going up there." I answered, doing my best to ignore her tone as I focused on my cereal. "Either way, it won't be long."

She hated Miranda, and I couldn't blame her. Despite her full admittance to what she had planned to do in the past, she still saw her as a snake in the grass. Even though I tried my best to try and see the best in people, she still had a long way to go before she gained anyone's trust around here.

"I still can't believe you plan to go out there with a man who's been dead for over a year and look for a bunch of wackos who're missing a few synapses." Mara brought up once more, causing me to reflexively make an expression of discomfort as I leaned back in my chair. "Are you sure you can't say here? If something were to happen to you out there it would kill all of us."

"Hon, this is just something that needs to be done. We've been over this before." I argued, turning back to face her as I kept one of my hands on the table. "There needs to be someone there who can handle the stresses and be able to provide technical support under said stress. Who would you rather have me send? Dan?"

She pursed her lips before a look of disappointment slipped onto her face, ending in a deep sigh.

"I just don't want to lose you again." She said, putting her hand on top of mine. "After what happened to Jack… I'm just afraid the worst will happen."

I stared into her dark blue eyes, examining every feature of her irises before speaking up once more.

"I can promise both me and the crew will be safe." I reassured, lightly grasping her hand. "I say this with a full heart, Mara."

She looked at our hands for a moment, tensing her grip slightly before locking onto my eyes.

"OK." She said in a lighter tone, nodding before leaning over to give me a hug. "I want to see you home and safe."

"I promise." I agreed, still clung to her as silence filled the void between us.

There were numerous promises I had broken in recent years. I knew this was one that I needed to follow through on. For both our sakes, and the sake of our daughter.

I wouldn't let them down.

…

MFV _Explorer_, January 3rd, 12:31 PM, 2185

…

"_Coolant leak in our number 4 tank again._" Lenlo announced over the bridge comm as I stood there looking at the video feed of the three of them down there. "_Can you seal it until we find out exactly where it's coming from?_"

"No problem." I replied, quickly tapping away at the console in front of me. "Done. Let me know when you find the source of the problem."

"_Roger that, Captain._" He finished, cutting the connection as I found myself staring out at the trees across the clearing. The tall things practically dwarfed the ship. If the mountains weren't already so tall I'd be hard to see them this close to the tree line.

I had to run over here from the lab after Lenlo announced that our coolant tanks were leaking again. This had been the second time in the last two months this had happened, but luckily both times it hadn't occurred while the reactor was at full power. The coolant was chilled carbon dioxide which was fed to the pipes that interlaced the reactor's main components.

These days, we used super-cooled helium for keeping our reactors cold, but it wasn't cost-effective to have the _Explorer _refitted with a different system. The only real disadvantage ours had was the extra amount of space it took up, something we weren't even worried about.

Part of me wondered why we were having trouble with it again so soon after fixing it. It wasn't even a temperamental sub-system, and had only suffered minor damage of the years. Then another thought came to me.

"Lydia… are you behind this?" I asked out loud as her ghostly figure appeared on the nearby projector.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out, Mr. Science Man." She said with a smile, crossing her arms. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"It must be important if you faked a coolant leak to get me here." I sighed, leaning against the gunner's station as I put my hands into my pockets. "So… what is it?"

"I want to come with you on the mission." She stated clearly and without any reluctance, causing me to question what I had heard for a moment.

"You want to come with us?" I repeated in a deadpan tone, still not believing her request.

"Yes." She confirmed, somehow getting her smile even bigger. "I'm sick of being stuck here, I want to get back out there and see the world."

I was taken slightly aback, unable to think of anything to say for several moments.

"While I understand your reasoning behind this, you wanting to get out there and all… do you have any idea how dangerous it's going to be?" I asked, motioning reflexively with my hands as I spoke.

"Of course, I didn't go through Harvard and come out without an analytical mindset." She dismissed without a second thought, allowing her "arms" to hang at her sides. "As a matter of fact, I might be just the thing you need for a mission like this."

"Explain." I asked, narrowing my eyes as her face turned more serious.

She threw up images of both the Reaper, Sovereign, and the Geth, along with an image of the Cerberus logo.

"As we already know, counter-intrusion software used by the Council during the Battle of the Citadel was completely bypassed by Sovereign, and as shown by the events in Rael's lab, the Geth are nearly as proficient." She laid out, cycling through images of pure computer code. "After escaping from the Barn, you mentioned that Cerberus had been developing their own A.I. that could run the station. Given the amount of time that has passed…"

"They could have advanced their A.I. research even further than before." I finished, looking down at the deck panels as I sighed.

"Exactly." She nodded, crossing her arms again. "By putting me on that ship, we'll be better prepared in the event electronic warfare is attempted against the ship."

I mulled over her proposal for a few moments, rubbing my goatee in thought. She was completely right, and she knew that I knew that she was right. Part of me argued that this wasn't a good idea and hoisted more personal risk onto this mission, but the other half knew she had been stuck here on this ship for a long time.

I suppose it came as to no surprise when I accepted her request. She'd be our silent guardian on our mission into the unknown.

…

Cairo Station, January 10th, 2:00 PM, 2185

…

I stood at the top of the command center of the _Cairo_ alongside Captain Keno, watching the live video broadcast of the Conclave choosing the new Admiral to take Rael's former position on the Board. Neither one of us had decided to go, both being sick of the politics behind it all. We were up high enough that we could talk normally between each other without his crew below us hearing.

"I'm telling you, there's no reason at all why it should have taken this long to pick a new Admiral." Keno argued, pacing back and forth as I stared at the viewing monitor. "It's ridiculous."

"It's just more political bullshit." I shot back, watching him walk back and forth in the same seven feet of space. "Any time something big happens in the Fleet they have to bring the idea of war with the Geth up again. Every single god-damned time."

He nodded, stopping for a moment as the feed twitched for a moment then returned to normal.

"I really hope they pick Mal. They need someone there that knows how to rein in Gerrel's craziness." Keno said as I nodded, knowing there was no way I could disagree with him.

I agreed with him 100%, of course. Captain Mal was one of the most respected ship captains in the whole fleet. Our friendship was one of the few that had been forged in the fire of combat, and I had the scar to prove it.

He was among two other ship captains who passed the initial voting process. The other two in the running were Daro'Xen, one of the people in the Fleet I hated the most, and Kar'Danna, who I considered more of a moderate. While I saw Daro'Xen as an outright disaster waiting to happen, Kar'Danna was more… indecisive. He lacked something that I couldn't pin my finger on.

I leaned forward slightly as I saw the Admirals move into view, taking their usual positions on the podium. Raan greeted everyone with the usual blessings to the ancestors before beginning the process.

"Captains, you've been given your 24 hours to come to a decision. It hasn't been easy for any of us, but the time has arrived." Zadie explained, opening a holographic projection in front of herself. "Please, vote now."

The entire Conclave lit up as all the Captains in attendance opened their omni-tools at once to choose who they wanted to become the new Admiral. We did as well, flashing our tools and immediately picking Mal.

The air fell dead silent both here and at the Conclave as everyone anticipated the results. I held my breath, squeezing my fist tight enough to turn my knuckles white.

"Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna, the will of the Conclave dictates that you join the Admiralty Board." Zadie announced as several Captains cheered and raised their fists in jubilation. "Please, step forward."

Mal silently made his way through the crowd of people, walking to the front where he stood directly in front of the four Admirals.

"Captain, from this moment onwards, you shall be known as an Admiral of the Migrant Fleet." Raan christened, manually changing his registry as she spoke. "May the ancestors help you guide our people to a brighter day. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai." Everyone in attendance repeated as Mal took a bow.

"Thank you, everyone." He said in the humblest tone I've ever heard from the man as he fought hard to keep his body language in check. "I promise that I will do all in my power to make our people prosper once more."

Right as he began to speak again, my omni-tool rang out its emergency signal again, jolting my attention away from the Conclave as Captain Keno looked back at me in minor surprise. I checked the ID of the caller, seeing it was Richard this time.

"I've got to take this, one minute." I explained, walking off to the side where I was relatively secluded. "This had better be good, Richard. I was right in the middle of watching Mal get-"

"_He's awake!_" Richard shouted at me through the comm, enough to make the levels drop on his microphone. "_We did it! We did iiiit!_"

"Oh my god…" I managed to muster out, pausing for a moment to absorb the sudden news as I felt my jaw hang open. "I'll be over in a minute!"

I immediately ran out of the command center without a second thought, moving through Alpha sector and into the docking areas. I quickly flashed my credentials to the guards, forcing myself to stop and breath as the airlock cycled.

Those crazies managed to do it. He was alive and conscious. I wanted nothing more than to see him in person.

Richard was already waiting for me on the other side of the airlock, an excited, almost feral look in his eyes as his grin shot from ear to ear.

"Come on, we have him in the side room." He urged, motioning with his hand as he and I broke into a run.

"Has anyone told him anything yet?" I asked, slowing down slightly as we moved into the open part of the lab.

"No, we decided to wait for you first." He denied, nodding towards the other end of the lab.

The moment we were within range I could see him through the window, wearing a medical gown and sat down drinking water. Despite indeed being alive, he still looked like hell. Several of his scars were still quite visible, even from this distance. Especially the facial ones.

We walked in, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, including the man himself. I stepped forward with baited breath, pausing to think of something to say.

"Good to see you up and about again, Commander." I greeted, giving him a stern handshake which he quickly accepted. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've got the worst headache in the world." He replied with incredibly dry tone, blinking rapidly as his eyes struggled to refocus themselves. "Who are you?"

"I'm Captain Sean Michaels of the MSV _Explorer_." I answered, doing my absolute best to not let my discipline go out the window. "I'm in charge of most of the science projects here and around Reach."

"Reach?" He questioned, taking in another deep gulp of water from his little cup. "Listen, I have a lot of questions, and I've only received one answer so far. Who are you people?"

It only just occurred to me that he had been dead since before a lot of our biggest developments. There was a lot I was going to have to explain to the man.

"We're scientists with the quarian Migrant Fleet. We've been working on… this project as part of our coalition with the Systems Alliance, specifically under Admiral Hackett." I slowly explained, struggling to find the right words to use. "So far, it's been going very well."

"Coalition? Why is there a coalition between the Alliance and the Quarians?" He asked further, running a hand through his hair. "How long have I been unconscious? What happened?"

I silently looked between Mineko, Hans, Richard, and Miranda for any sort of guidance. All I got was a small nod from Richard.

"Commander… you've been dead for nearly two years." I outright stated, watching his features become confused and slightly more distrustful. "Cerberus recovered your body several months ago and attempted to reconstruct you until we found you and brought you here to finish their work."

"Over four billion credits were spent on Cerberus's part to bring you back from the dead, Shepard." Miranda chimed in, arms crossed as all eyes turned to her. "Four billion credits to bring you back in the same condition you were before your death."

He stared at us all a few more seconds before downing the rest of his water and crushing the cup.

"I…I don't understand. All of this, just to bring me back?" He doubted, not looking convinced. "One man? That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense." Richard interrupted, walking up and sitting down across from him. "You, Commander, are the only man who has gone up against the Reapers and won. You are the one man we can count on in the dark times to come."

"Human colonies throughout the Terminus are disappearing, Commander." I added, standing directly behind Richard as I spoke. "We don't know exactly who's doing it, but we have plenty of reason to believe that the Reapers are behind it. We've got a plan in place for you once you're up to speed and have spoken to Hackett and the Admiralty Board."

Shepard opened his mouth as if he was about to say something before stopping himself, taking in a breath of air through his nose before leaning back against the wall.

"This is too much right now… I just need some time to think about this." He dismissed with a tired look on his face as he stared down at the ground.

I nodded silently at him, looking down at Richard as both of us walked out of the room.

"I'll call Greg and have him relay the news back to Hackett. I need you and Miranda to get him back to speed. _Slowly_." I ordered, putting emphasis on slowly. "Once I'm done, I'll have to speak to the newly replenished Admiralty Board and give them the news as well."

"Who did they select to take his place?" He asked, almost certainly as an afterthought. I opted to smile back at him with a big grin, instantly getting the answer across as he too smiled.

I walked back into the open lab area, looking around at all the equipment and papers scattered around before opening my omni-tool. I didn't get far before Miranda walked into view, making a beeline over to me.

"What happens how?" She inquired, walking over as I closed my omni-tool.

"Elaborate." I replied in a deadpan, leaning back on one of the tables.

"Us, and all of this equipment. What'll happen to it?" She corrected, her face shifting from annoyed to more neutral. "You never did tell us what would happen after the goal of our project was achieved."

"Well… I figured the equipment itself would be moved to CASTLE Base where we would either be put into storage or integrated into our medical level." I answered, pushing against the inside of my left cheek with my tongue. "The lab would be broken up for scrap, and all of you would begin official work in CASTLE Base."

She didn't look satisfied with my answer as she narrowed her eyes, and I knew exactly why.

"Don't get yourself all worked up, Miranda, I got you a spot aboard the ship." I reassured, smirking as a small smile creeped onto her face. "It wasn't easy, but you are part of the crew now whether Gerrel likes it or not. Congratulations."

Her smile grew, the biggest I had ever seen it. It was almost unnerving seeing her break her composure like this.

"Thank you, Sean." She said in a genuine tone as she offered me a handshake. I slowly walked over to her, accepting the gesture with a hardy nod.

For the time being, we were ready for any threat the galaxy held. Our mission was fast approaching, and for once, I was actually looking forward to getting back out there and facing the world. I had spent far too much time hidden behind the Migrant Fleet and all the distance our home afforded us. I was going to show the galaxy what we had spent the last few years building.

I almost felt sorry for the bad guys.

…

**A/N: Got on a real writing kick lately, especially with all the heat outside forcing me indoors. We've finally reached the second milestone of the story, the beginning of Mass Effect 2. I hope you're all enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. College starts August 28****th****, so I might still be able to squeeze another chapter in before I lose all free time.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	46. Resurgence

…

"Perhaps you were expecting some surprise, for me to reveal a secret that had eluded you, something that would change your perspective of events, shatter you to your core. There is no great revelation, no great secret. There is only _you_."

(Kreia)

…

Cairo Station, January 11th, 5:49 AM, 2185

…

I yawned, stretching my back out as I lifted my arms above my head. I hadn't gotten any sleep all night, though this wasn't due to lack of trying. I had nearly fallen asleep at one point around 2am, but was woken once more as Mineko rushed over to me with another medical report on Shepard's neurological activity. She was determined to give me hourly reports that showed little to no interesting changes.

The only real "change" was that Shepard had begun to remember more of what had happened shortly before his death. I could only imagine what was going through the poor man's head. Seeing your own death repeatedly… I wouldn't even know how to react to that.

Luckily, Hackett would be arriving soon to formally "reintroduce" Shepard to the Systems Alliance, and he was bringing Tali with him. Even though I was under direct orders to keep information regarding the ship and crew waiting for him under wraps for now, there was plenty of other things we could discuss. He had been very interested in our coalition the last few hours, asking any and all questions he could think of in regards to it. While he didn't seem all that surprised about it, he was more interested in how we were handling the issue of Cerberus.

He shared with me a story about his first real encounter with the group. He was given an assignment by Rear Admiral Kahoku that entailed looking for a missing squad of Alliance Marines in the Attican Traverse. He discovered that they had been deliberately lured into a Thresher Maw nest and slaughtered. After Kahoku probed further for information, Cerberus hunted and captured him, having him killed before Shepard and his team found the facility on Binthu.

Thankfully, the man didn't go unavenged. Using information found in the base, Shepard raided a larger facility on Nepheron and eliminated all Cerberus resistance.

I reneged on a few minor details, but I told him about our own experiences with the organization. I started with Aldrin Station, moving up the line all the way to their major attack on the system. I left out the events in The Barn just because those memories were still too painful for me to think about. As I spoke, I couldn't help but notice how shocked he was by everything I was telling him.

He seemed both surprised and impressed that we had not only survived so much, but endured it all for so long. In his own words, we were "the luckiest group of people in the galaxy." I couldn't even decide for myself if he was right or wrong, but I apparently made a big enough impression on him that he said he looked forward to working with me. Knowing his reputation, I didn't know whether to be honored or worried.

I walked into the _Ranger_, throwing myself into one of the thickly-padded seats before opening my omni-tool. There were no direct messages from below, but I did take the time to watch the rest of Admiral Mal's speech to the Admiralty Board. I couldn't help but notice Xen's highly visible pout as he spoke, getting a sharp chuckle out of myself.

His appointment to the Admiralty was the best thing that could have happened in the long run. All of us on the side of non-aggression were relieved that he had taken Rael's position. While I didn't like thinking about the subject using such a frame, I had to admit I was relieved Gerrel no longer held his military stranglehold on Fleet matters now that Rael was gone and Mal was there. While I still believed war with the Geth was inevitable, I knew this could delay it longer for us to do more work.

My eyes widened in surprise as Richard walked into the shuttle, his artificial eye glowing with a brilliant blue in the relative darkness.

"Christ almighty, I don't think I've ever seen you up this early." I commented, twisting myself around to get a better look at him.

"You must be joking." He replied in a groggy tone, shambling towards the seats in the back of the shuttle. He promptly laid down across four of them, almost immediately falling asleep.

I could only let out a huff of amusement through my nose at the brief interaction, turning back to face the cockpit windows as I opened my omni-tool.

I checked the status of the Hammerhead IFV transfer request I had put in, smiling as I read it had been approved. After having in thoroughly field-tested, we had begun building our own upgraded versions that would phase out the old antiquated turian IFVs that they had used previously. One of the new Hammerheads was currently being moved to our Phantom-class frigate. Once it was secured aboard the ship, it would be ready to go.

Despite there being preparations I was probably supposed to work on, I decided to instead lean back in the pilot's chair and get some sleep in before everyone arrived in a few hours.

I wasn't going to talk to Hackett again with no shut eye.

…

Cairo Station, January 11th, 11:01 AM, 2185

…

I squinted my eyes as I fruitlessly tried to push the wrinkles out of my shirt, giving up after it became clear nothing I could to now would fix it. I stood alongside Richard, Greg, Miranda, Hans, and Mineko. Shepard was obviously here too; having put on some old Alliance fatigues Greg had brought up from the _Explorer_. We stood in the hanger bay silently waiting for Hackett's shuttle to arrive.

Despite the occasion being a good one, part of me still felt tense for no apparent reason. I chalked it up to Tali, and me inevitably having to tell her the details of her father's death.

"I have to admit, part of me wishes I was going out there with you guys." Greg whispered just loud enough that only I could hear it. "I'd love nothing more than to work against the Reapers."

"I doubt it'll end up being as romantic as you envision it." I replied in a much drier tone before the shuttle bay incoming alarm sounded.

I reflexively stiffened as the shuttle bay doors opened, allowing the blue and white craft inside. Greg, Shepard and I stood at complete attention even as hot air from the thrusters blew our way. Hackett walked out moments later followed by Tali, smiling the moment he spotted Shepard. It occurred to me that it had been the first time I'd ever seen the man smile before.

"Commander! It's good to see you again!" He greeted with a big, friendly handshake as Shepard returned the gesture.

"Likewise, sir." He nodded, allowing his own smile to creep up as he looked at Tali. "It's good to see familiar faces."

Based on body language alone, I could tell Tali was even more nervous than I was.

"Shepard… after what happened on the Normandy… I…" She stammered out, unable to complete her thought as her emotions ran rampant. "It's… good to see you alive and well."

Shepard had noticed her tone as well. He smiled and nodded to her, knowing she likely had conflicting emotions going through her head.

"Commander, I don't have to tell you that a lot has happened since your… encounter above Alchera." Hackett redirected, getting our attention back on point. "I need to ask for your help again, son."

"Just give me the details, sir." He immediately accepted without hesitation, managing to surprise me.

He really was the man that the ANN made him out to be. Hackett looked over at us, giving me a quick nod.

"Shepard, as Richard mentioned earlier yesterday, colonies in the Terminus are going missing. Human colonies." I began, somehow managing to force my back even straighter as all eyes focused on me. "As part of our ongoing coalition, the Migrant Fleet and Alliance have pooled together millions of credits worth of resources to provide you with an advanced ship, capable crew, and some of the most advanced technology we have at our disposal."

"We're still in the dark about how and why, but we have reason to believe the Reapers are somehow involved." Hackett explained, taking another step forward. "We're sending you out there to find out what's happening and put an end to it."

"To further this goal, we've worked with Ms. Lawson here, a former Cerberus operative, to build a list of… talented individuals that you'll be seeking out and bringing onto your crew." I further elaborated, gesturing to Miranda who gave a single, silent nod. "We've got to work outside of the mold here. There's a lot of threats that could be waiting out there, and we need solutions to all of them."

"Where will I be going first, sir?" Shepard asked, looking between Hackett and Tali.

"We're leaving that to your discretion, Commander." Hackett answered bluntly, looking at me and Miranda. "Sean will be acting as your XO during the duration of this assignment. He'll keep everything in order. Ms. Zorah will also be rejoining your crew."

"I know I can depend on Tali, but what about you, Sean?" Shepard questioned in a light-hearted tone. "You're not going to pull rank on me, are you?"

"I may be a Captain in the Migrant Fleet, but in the Alliance, I'm technically still a civvie." I talked down, shrugging my shoulders. "I'll mostly be there to keep all the shiny, experimental equipment in working order, but if you need me in the field I can pull my own weight."

"That's good to hear, I'd hate to have someone on my team who's afraid of a fight." He smiled as he let out a huff of amusement.

"Trust me, if we find what we're looking for there'll be plenty of fighting." I shot back, getting another cheek-to-cheek. "So… would you like to see the ship?"

"Absolutely." He agreed almost instantly as Miranda fell in line behind me.

"I'll see to it that your service records are amended." Hackett finished, giving Shepard one more handshake. "Good luck, Commander."

Hackett went on to talk with Greg and the rest of our team while the four of us hopped in _Ranger_. Now that the meeting was officially over, we'd be able to head out whenever we wanted.

"I know we only covered the basics, but I'll go into more detail after I've shown you the ship." I reassured as he, Tali and Miranda took their seats in the back.

It was quiet for a few moments until Shepard began speaking to Miranda.

"So… former Cerberus?" Shepard questioned in a confused tone. "What made you want to quit?"

"The answer to that is… complicated." She admitted, sounding a little bit nervous. "I originally led Project Lazarus, the project to rebuild you, under the Cerberus banner, but after coalition forces took the station where you were being worked on, I decided to defect along with several other scientists."

"I'm the only reason why you chose to leave?" Shepard prodded further, not sounding at all convinced.

"Initially, yes." She admitted, still sounding a little shaky. "But after nearly being killed by a Cerberus assassin on Arcturus, my perspective changed quickly."

"She was lucky to be alive, took a knife to the gut defending the other scientists." I added from the cockpit as I maneuvered through the fleet.

"I don't believe any of it." Tali rebuked, sounding extremely skeptical. "Do you have any idea how much suffering Cerberus has caused for my people? How are you any different? You could be a deep-cover sleeper agent for all we know."

"I wasn't involved in either of the two major operations taken against your people, Ms. Zorah." Miranda shot back in a much more serious tone. "Cerberus operates in compartmentalized cells to contain information leaks. I was part of the Lazarus Cell, and our only goal was to revive Shepard."

"But you were still aware of what was happening." She accused in a higher, more outraged tone.

"I was only made aware of those events in detail after my defection." She defended, sounding slightly more exacerbated. "I admit there was a time where I admired The Illusive Man and everything he was trying to do, but seeing what lengths they've gone through to try and secure themselves on the galactic stage… it was too much."

Tali let out what I could only assume was a guttural growl before it got real quiet.

"Everyone needs to be calm, we're all on the same team here." Shepard talked down as I let out a sigh of relief. "If we're going to work as cohesive unit, we need to accept what happened and let go. Arguing about things we can't change, especially the past, won't do any good."

Silence filled the shuttle compartment once more as we got within visual range of the Phantom-class vessel. I smiled as it appeared through my cockpit windows, still loving its design. If it weren't for the space dock that held it, it would be nearly invisible to the background of space.

"Shepard, come look." I said out loud, getting him into the compartment. "She's a beauty, isn't she?"

"I've never seen anything quite like her." He remarked, gazing out the window. "Does she have a name?"

"No, I thought it was only appropriate that you got to name her." I answered, cracking a smile as he did the same.

"I think I've got just the perfect one." He cracked through his grin as I pulled into the waiting hangar bay.

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 11th, 12:59 PM, 2185

…

"So, Shepard… what do you think of her?" I asked with a smile, leaning against the railing that overlooked the reactor's fusion chamber.

"I think she's quite the looker." He replied, cracking a grin of his own as the blue glow shrouded his face. "Still… I need to get used to it. Part of me still misses the old _Normandy_."

"That's fine, take your time and get to know the crew." I urged, holding up both hands briefly. "I'm sure in due time, you'll come to appreciate what she has to offer you."

He nodded, putting both hands together behind his back as we moved on.

After spending nearly two hours giving Shepard and Tali the official tour, we all went back to the top deck and entered the conference room to discuss the mission we would be undertaking in further detail. They quietly took their seats around the table as I opened my omni-tool and activated the holographic projector in the middle.

"Alright, so the basic gist of our situation is that we still know very little about our abductors." I began to explain, pacing back and forth as I made eye contact with everyone. "The most Hackett's investigators have been able to ascertain from three of the missing colonies is that they were taken with very little struggle. Almost no sign of battle at any of the locations aside from a few discarded weapons, and no major infrastructure damage either."

"Perhaps some kind of gas or chemical agent was used to subdue their populations?" Tali theorized, leaning forward slightly in her chair.

"While that's a good theory, Hackett doesn't believe that's the case." I denied, tapping out an image from my omni-tool and "throwing" it into the middle of the projector. "There was an emergency bunker on one of these colonies that was sealed and forced open from the outside. It was equipped with a state-of-the-art air filtration system that showed no contaminates were absorbed."

"Strange… was there anything else his investigators were able to turn up?" Shepard asked, leaning his head against his fist.

"Actually, yes." I confirmed, throwing up a visualization of the comm buoy network. "The trend with these attacks seems to be the sudden cutoff of communications with the buoy network without damage to the buoys themselves. My best guess is that whoever is abducting these people has access to advanced communication jammers."

"So how do you propose we handle this?" Shepard inquired, folding his arms across his chest.

"I've already discussed this with Hackett." I deflected, holding up one of my hands. "He's setting up monitoring devices on the comm buoys that are near "at risk" settlements, and if one of them suddenly stops sending out comm signals, we'll be informed at a moment's notice."

I then looked over at Miranda, giving her a quick nod as she stood up and I took a seat.

"In the meantime, you'll begin building a team of highly-capable individuals that'll help you fight this threat." She stated, handing Shepard a datapad that held all the dossiers. "If I were to suggest someone to seek out first, it would be Dr. Mordin Solus, a salarian scientist and former STG member."

He took a minute to slowly read through each one, looking mildly confused by some of them.

"Some of these people are criminals." He objected, looking none too pleased. "Why can't I just get the remainder of my old team back together?"

"They've moved on to other things, Commander." Miranda denied in a calm, but sympathetic tone. "These individuals are some of the most skilled in the galaxy, and you're one of the few people who can make them work together as a team."

"To be fair, she is right." Tali agreed, putting her crossed arms against the edge of the table. "If I hadn't been working alongside Admiral Hackett, I very much doubt I would have been able to leave my position on Arcturus to come back."

He looked between the datapad and Miranda for a moment, eventually closing his eyes and sighing.

"You've already cleared these, Sean?" Shepard asked, looking me right in the eye.

"I was skeptical at first, but after discussing them in detail and doing my own research I trust her judgement." I voiced in support of her, which I noticed got Tali to turn her head away.

"Alright then." He said, getting up out of his seat. "We'll leave port in one hour. Make sure everything is settled before we leave, because it may be a while before we return."

"Understood, sir." I finished, giving him a quick salute as we all left the room. I walked into the empty science lab and decided to give Mara a call, knowing that it could be a while before I saw her and Elle again.

"Hello honey." She greeted with a video screen, showing that she was home. "Where have you been? You didn't come home last night, and Richard and the others just got back."

"I've been… really busy the last twenty-four hours." I answered in a slow, careful tone. "It's happening, Mara. Shepard woke up yesterday, and we just got authorization from Hackett to begin our mission."

"I… figured as much." She nodded in a disappointed tone, getting a sunken look to her face. "You… uh, have everything you need?"

"I already had my vital equipment and supplies moved over to the ship." I answered, looking back towards the door. "Um… I'll be sending the authorization message to the Admirals letting them know to transfer the development of our projects to you, Dan and Dimitri."

"OK." She replied in a solemn tone, looking down as if she was struggling to avoid my eyes. I could only imagine what must have been going through her head.

"Hon, I promise you I'll be fine." I reassured, getting my face closer to the screen as she looked back up. "I'll send daily messages to you and the spud, and will bring back some nice things for the house."

She stared into my eyes a few moments longer as she pursed her lips and her eyes turned reddish.

"Just… *sniff* be careful out there." She stated once more, suppressing the urge to break out into tears. "I love you."

"I know." I finished with a smile, feeling my emotions beginning to act up too as she cut off the video feed.

I sucked in the urge to quit now and turned to the door, only to suddenly see Tali had entered without me hearing her.

"Tali! Uh, is there something you need?" I asked with obvious surprise in my voice, feeling my heart rev up several beats.

"Before we go, I want to clear something up with you." She stated in an accusatory tone, crossing her arms as she walked towards me. "I want to know what happened to my father. What _actually_ happened. I don't buy the official story, and I know you were involved with what happened in his lab."

I was taken aback by her sudden attitude, but knew better than to fire back at her. My breath suddenly felt very cold as my mind raced to think of something appropriate to say to her. Right as I was about to tell her the same thing I had told everyone else, I felt my throat seize up.

Rael was her father. Despite all the reservations I had about ramifications, possibilities and all that shit… I had to tell her the truth. She deserved to know. I let out a deep sigh, closing my eyes and mentally preparing myself for whatever reaction she would have.

"Tali, you're right about the official story." I admitted, ignoring my gut feeling and continuing on. "The truth is… your father and his team were rebuilding and reactivating Geth. They ended up getting free, and killed everyone in the lab."

Tali's stance and body language immediately crumbled as shock took over.

"What?" She stammered out in a disbelieving, almost hostile tone as she took a step back. "But why?"

"They were doing it for the sole purpose of performing experiments on them." I answered, holding my wrist tightly out of nerves. "He always talked about retaking the homeworld… and uh…I know how hard this must be for you to hear. You were so important to him, and I respected that bond too much to drag his name through the mud."

She stood in place for several seconds before she started crying.

"Father… why did you do this to me?" She cried out as I swallowed my words, watching her fall to her knees. "Damn it… damn it…"

I got down next to her, giving her a hug to comfort her. I held her tight as she sobbed for what felt like ages before another thought crossed my mind.

"I copied the data from his omni-tool, but never gave it to anybody." I explained, releasing her from my arms as I plucked the data chip out of my wristwatch. "Do you want it?"

She stared at the back chip for several seconds before she shook her head.

"No… you can keep it." She denied, still struggling to reign in her emotions. "I… thank you, Sean. If they discovered what my father had done…"

"Shh." I halted, giving her one more quick hug. "I know. Just remember that he loved you more than anything. Remember him for who he was, not for what he did."

She nodded, quickly walking out of the room and leaving me alone once more.

I didn't know if telling her the truth was the best thing to do, but it was the right thing. No matter how it affected her, she only needed to know he loved her very much.

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." Lydia commented as her image appeared on the nearest holographic projector. "Matsuo Bashō, poet of the Edo period."

"You make a habit of popping in like that?" I asked in a slightly aggravated tone, wrinkling my brow as I turned to face her.

"What, do you expect me to not throw my two cents in after hearing something like that?" She questioned, putting her hands against her hips as she shook her head and looked at the door. "The quarian people are so blinded by their obsession with returning to their homeworld that they can't see what's in front of their own faces."

I pursed my lips, knowing how true her sentiment was. Rannoch was like a forbidden, priceless gem to the quarians, and some of them were willing to sacrifice everything if it meant it was theirs again.

"You think she'll be OK?" I asked, knowing full and well she had heard and watched all of what just occurred.

"I think she just needs time to process the reality of what happened." She answered, crossing her arms across her chest. "Knowing your father did something so fundamentally wrong and got himself and others killed because of it… it's a lot to absorb."

I nodded without another word, walking towards the door but stopping to look at a reflective metal panel on the wall. I looked at myself in the reflection, taking a moment to look at the contours and colors of my face. I brushed the gray hair on the sides of my head, keeping my fingers in it for a few moments before exhaling through my nose.

The stress of it all was starting to get to me. It was a slow process, but the wear and tear was taking its toll on my physical appearance. Maybe it was just me trying to ignore the fact that I was getting older, but in the wake of Tali's emotional turmoil my thoughts turned once more to my father.

My lower lip trembled when I suddenly realized how much I looked like him. I had to break my gaze with the reflection lest I burst into tears.

I felt my heartbeat speed up before forcing myself to take deep breaths, leaning against the wall as I waited for the tight feeling in my chest to go away.

Part of me wondered if my physical appearance was a warning sign of my mental state. I dreaded to think what kind of condition I would be in years from now when Mara and I were old and tired, what our own daughter would think of us. Would she cherish and take care of us, or would she see us as a burden?

I was struck with guilt, suddenly remembering my grandfather on his deathbed. I remembered him crying out for pain medication as I held his hand as tightly as I could, knowing full and well that my incompetent grandmother and uncle let the nurse leave the house that day without giving them his painkillers.

When he stopped crying and my mother came to take my seat next to him, he told me what a good grandson I was, cracking the last smile I ever saw from him.

I went outside and wept like a baby. To see a strong man like him, a man who fought for his country during the Second World War, a man I respected to the core of my being reduced to that kind of state… it damaged me in a way I would never fully understand.

I forced myself to look back at my reflection, committing every possible detail to memory before allowing myself to leave the science lab.

God only knew how much more damage this extended trip would do to me. I needed a strong drink.

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 11th, 5:12 PM, 2185

…

I laid inside of my capsule bunk, taping pictures I had bought with me to the walls. They ranged from pictures of my friends, wife, Elle, and the mountains back home. I hoped they would motivate me to do my best, but all they ended up doing was making me yearn for home.

We had left several hours ago, having finally gotten the go-ahead from the Admirals. We were on our way to Omega just like Shepard said, and I was using my time to make myself as scarce as possible.

Out of the dozen pictures I had brought up with me, the one I kept my eyes glued on was the one Sira had quickly snapped of us while we were sitting inside of Dimitri's house, December of 83'. Mara had her arms wrapped around me, head against my back while I watched the snowstorm coming down outside. Dimitri was busy making popcorn for all of us, and we had to wait until he was done before we could watch our movie for that week, which happened to be _Raiders of the Lost Ark_.

Inside of my head at that moment I had been thinking about whether the storm was getting worse, balancing the different risk factors that would be involved with getting home that night. It was only after seeing the surprise photo that I noticed the way Mara looked at me. There was no better way to describe it other than pure love.

It had always been my favorite photo of her.

My thoughts were suddenly cut short as someone knocked on the privacy door to my bunk, which I reluctantly opened. I immediately came face-to-face with Inoe'Whilk, who I could already tell was a little worried.

"What can I do for you, Inoe?" I asked, pulling myself out of the bunk and back to my feet.

"Um… Gabriella Daniels in Engineering wanted me to come get you." She said, pushing her fingers together. "She's really worried about the reactor safeties, and wants you to come and explain them to her."

"Strange, you'd think this would have been something that had been addressed before we set sail." I replied, popping the air pockets in my neck. "Alright, I'll go have a word with her."

She nodded as we both walked off towards the elevators.

My thoughts of Mara would have to wait, there was work to be done.

…

**A/N: I've managed to finally get things rolling on ME2, and despite all odds I've managed to do it despite having little to no free time the past few weeks. I've quite literally lost many hours of sleep getting this one done, and I didn't even have to force myself either. I'm quite proud of that fact.**

**I've also (finally) gotten some art commissioned for my story, drawn and colored by the talented _nikadonna_ on Tumblr featuring Sean and Mara sharing a tender moment together. I've updated the story image to show it, but if you wish to see it in detail follow this link: sta . sh / 0eb6wfp5dbv (As usual, due to the website and its fear of links, the spaces must be removed.)**

**Make sure to follow _nikadonna_ on Tumblr, there's more great artwork to be found there!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	47. Contamination

…

"Valor. Duty. Leadership. Sacrifice. Can one man truly make a difference?"

(Medal of Honor: Allied Assault)

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 12th, 6:12 AM, 2185

…

I yawned, throwing both of my hands up in the air as two loud pops rang out from my back. I exhaled afterwards, returning my attention to the bowl of powdered eggs in front of me. No matter how you made them, they always had that grainy consistency in your mouth. It took lots of water to down properly, despite having eaten it often over the years. Thanks to our supplier in the Fleet who traded frequently with the colonists on Elysium we were lucky enough to get liquefied egg bags for our homes, but here it was back to the basics.

I picked my datapad back up, reading the reports from the twilight crew as I shoveled the barely palatable stuff into my maw. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, and aside from me having to explain the redundant reactor safeties to Gabriella Daniels and her partner Kenneth Donnelly, everyone understood what their jobs were and how to do them.

I didn't blame them for not knowing about the reactor safeties, even I had forgotten about them. Dan and I had them put in place with the intention of using our prototype plasma engines on the Phantom-class frigates, but that idea was eventually phased out during the second redesign at the insistence of the shipbuilders.

Their intended function was to prevent plasma blowback from the engines into the reactor system. The safeties remained and only activated once engines had reached full power, surprising her and Kenneth. They did still serve a secondary function, albeit only in emergency situations. If the Normandy was in a dire situation that required more engine power, they could be used to force plasma into the ship's antiproton engines, acting as a "nitro boost" of sorts.

This wasn't a good idea for long-term application. The antiproton engines weren't built to handle the heat emitted by our plasma, and would literally melt if used for more than a minute or so.

I took a sip of my instant coffee, allowing the heat from it to wash over me as Shepard walked out of his Captain's quarters wearing just pants and a tank top. Despite being healed, his body was still covered in pockmark scars from where he had been hooked up to the machines in the lab. Miranda said that they would heal more in the future, but that didn't make him any easier to look at.

"Good morning, Commander." I greeted with my coffee mug held up in the air, doing my best to focus only on his face. "How do you like your coffee?"

"Black." He answered in a nonchalant tone, walking past me to the serving station.

"Good, because that's all we have here." I shot back in as dry as a tone as I could, putting one of my arms over the back of my chair. "You're up awfully early. I thought you would have taken more time to rest after everything that happened yesterday."

"I've been laying on my back for nearly two years. I don't need any more rest." He replied, digging through the large fridge before stopping himself. "Frozen breakfast burritos? Since when do they have these on warships?"

"Since I brought them aboard." I smiled, allowing the one corner of my mouth to curl up. "I figured it would be a nice treat for after missions, but you're the exception."

He let out a huff of approval, putting it in the microwave before sitting down next to me.

"So, what are you working on?" He inquired, leaning over to look at my datapad.

"I'm just looking over the info we have again." I explained, taking another sip from my coffee cup before picking the datapad back up. "I think once we have these two guys from Omega and the biotic we should try investigating one of these deserted colonies for ourselves."

"Sounds like a good idea… see if we can't find something the official investigation missed." He nodded, letting out a sigh. "I still don't know how I feel about these "specialists" you and Miranda are so dead set on getting… seems risky."

"It'll be fine, trust me." I reassured as the microwave beeped and he stood back up.

He grabbed the burrito and a bottle of water as he headed for the elevator, causing me mild surprise.

"Hey, you want a suit of our power armor for use in the field?" I asked, causing him to turn and face me. "It's not hard to modify it to your liking."

"Hm… maybe later." He denied, taking a few steps backwards. "I prefer to stick with what I know for now. I'm going below deck to exercise, see you later."

"Bye." I finished, watching him walk back off and out of my view.

I focused on the empty space for a moment before downing the rest of my coffee in one big swig, knowing today was going to be a long one.

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 12th, 10:21 AM, 2185

…

I paced back and forth on the bridge in my armor, trying to break it in a bit better before we stepped off the ship. Tali was here too, wearing one of the new suits that Richard and Powell had designed. She was busy fiddling with her omni-tool trying to get connected to Omega's station-wide network before we docked.

My armor was custom designed for these assignments I'd be doing with Shepard. Unlike the regular ceramic plating that most hardsuits used, I made the chest and abdomen armor out of the same material used in our Gen IV exosuits. It was as thick as I could make it without obstructing movement, but the shoulders and upper thighs were almost unprotected because of weight limitations and to make it easier to wear an exo if I so desired. There was only one magnetic rail on my back due to the large battery I had installed for the beefed-up kinetic barriers.

The result looked a lot like the Kerberos Panzer Cop armor from Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, but without the pauldrons and cuisses. My helmet, if you could even call it that, was little more than a head-covering breathing mask that hung off my belt.

I was armed with one of our Mark III Plasma Rifles, which I had personalized with a holographic sight and a black paintjob. The Mark III could fire 65 times before the plasma was exhausted, and I carried five spare canisters on my belt. For a sidearm I carried the always reliable M-6 Carnifex with armor-piercing ammunition and the same paintjob as my rifle. Last but not least, I carried the knife I had won from Kal'Reegar on my chest plate, immediately visible on my left breast.

It went without saying that I considered it my last resort.

"You OK there, Captain?" Joker asked, looking at me through a small mirror he had adhered to his dashboard. "You look more nervous than me going down a flight of stairs."

"Oh, it's nothing." I denied in a slightly whimsical tone, forcing myself to stand still as I watched the asteroids fly by outside. "Stepping onto a space station loaded to the brim with some of the biggest criminals in the Terminus. No sweat."

My comment got Joker to crack a smile as Omega came into view outside. To say it was ominous was putting lit lightly. The way it looked gave me the impression we were flying towards a giant, evil mushroom. The kind of mushroom an evil wizard would use in a life-ending potion.

"Hard to believe people would want to live in a place like this." Joker quipped, taking us in closer as Miranda looked up and closed her omni-tool.

"Some of them don't have a choice." She added, crossing her arms as she stood next to me. "There are plenty of quarians who traveled to Omega and never returned."

"Yeah, cause sending your most young and impressionable people to a scary-looking space station is always a good idea." Joker shot out, shaking his head. "Remind me to thank the Admirals."

I closed my eyes, shaking my head at his comment as I let out another huff of air. He wasn't making this any easier for me, but I didn't have the heart to openly chastise him. A few moments later, Shepard walked in with his new suit of N7 armor.

"How's are approach looking, Joker?" He asked without missing a beat, standing in between me and Tali.

"We're pulling in now, Commander." He quickly answered as we moved into the confines of the station itself. "I hope you've all had your shots. You're libel to get tetanus just from breathing the air here."

"I think you've made it out to be a charming place already, Joker." I said, finally getting tired of his comments. "Thank you."

He let out a huff, shaking his head as we pulled into one of the docks, attaching with a solid *clunk* as gravity clamps took hold. The three of us piled into the airlock as the decon sequence began. A few seconds into the process our radios crackled as Miranda connected to them.

"_Alright, can all of you hear me?_" She asked as we all gave her a response. "_Good. I'll keep track of you as best I can. Until I can update my records, you might have to ask around for information._"

"Copy that." Shepard replied, giving a quick nod as we turned back to the airlock doors.

Miranda would be acting as our voice with an internet connection for our first incursion. I had set her up with a console that I had explained was filled with a multitude of intrusion software designed by Dimitri and Richard, but the reality was it was simply a way for Lydia to quickly relay information to her without anyone catching on to her presence.

The other end of the airlock opened with a small hiss, revealing a long, empty space that bridged the gap between the cradle arm and the actual station. I looked at Tali for a moment before Shepard took the lead.

We walked out into the open, immediately coming face to face with two armed turians who wore matching armor. They didn't raise their weapons as we approached, and said nothing as we walked past.

"Joker, make sure the _Normandy_ stays on lockdown until we return." Shepard ordered into his comm, looking back at the two turians as we kept moving. "There's a lot of suspicious people around here."

Based on the identical gear and the nonchalant attitude, I could only assume the were there to guard the airlocks from undesirables, or to silently screen everyone coming and going through the station. Now that we were out in the open though, I could finally see the scale of the station. It was massive, much bigger than my initial impression led me to believe.

"H-hey, are you new here?" An uppity, disheveled looking salarian greeted with outstretched arms. "Welcome to Omega! I'm sure that-"

He suddenly cut himself off as a batarian wearing armor similar to the turians walked over, shooting him a death glare.

"Get out of here." He ordered in a threatening tone as the salarian ran off, leaving just us and him. "Stupid lystheni. Welcome to the station, Shepard."

All of us were taken slightly aback by the sudden greeting, as I leaned back slightly and allowed my eyebrows to shoot up in the air.

"You know who I am?" Shepard questioned, looking very confused.

"Of course we do, we had facial recognition on you the moment you walked out of your airlock." He explained in no-nonsense tone, giving Shepard three ornate cards. "Aria T'Loak would like to speak to you. She's very interested to know why a dead SPECTRE is here on Omega."

"Why should I accept this invitation?" He asked, getting an annoyed look from the batarian.

"Aria knows everyone's buissness on Omega, and if she asks to see you in person… well, let's just say it's in your best interests." He replied in an increasingly aggressive tone. "Aria. Afterlife. Now."

The batarian walked off, leaving us all mildly confused. Shepard handed each of us one of the cards as I held it in the light to get a better look at it. They were coded VIP passes for some nightclub called Afterlife. Based on the brief conversation that just took place, I hypothesized that this must have been her base of operations.

"Classy." I commented dryly, looking at the gold foil shine as I turned the card around. "Hey Miranda, any idea who this Aria T'Loak character is?"

"_She's the self-described "queen" of the station, acting with the most authority_." She answered without missing a beat, likely already aware of who she was. "_Cerberus has a… shaky relationship with her, especially after an incident involving a warehouse in the Endo District a little over a year ago. If you can get on her good side, she should be able to provide you with information._"

"What do you make of this, Commander?" Tali asked, slipping the club pass into one of her pockets.

"I think we should accept her invitation, but cautiously." He replied, taking in another breath through his nose. "Let's go. Wouldn't want to keep the "queen of Omega" waiting."

I shook my head at how ridiculous it all sounded, putting the club pass into the pouch attached to my leg.

It didn't take long to find Afterlife, considering you could feel the beats from the music just being near it. The front entrance was filled with lines of people trying to get it, guarded by an elcor bouncer and more armed guards. Holograms of asari pole dancers and fire could easily be seen all over the building.

Mara would kill me if she knew I was going into a den of iniquity like this. We skipped the line, walking straight up to the large elcor.

"Menacingly: Where do you think you're going?" The bouncer stopped, holding up one of his massive arms as he spoke in the characteristic elcor monotone. "Assertively: If you aren't VIPs, then I'd suggest you get in line with everyone else."

All three of us pulled out the VIP passes we had, displaying them clearly for the bouncer to see.

"With mild surprise: Oh, I see. Go on in, Aria is expecting you." He accepted, taking a step to the side so we could get by.

The moment we entered the club I was greeted with a pink and purple vidscreen of an asari dancing. It flashed erratically as several real ones danced on a raised platform below it, making varied poses as onlookers watched. The place was packed to the brim with people drinking, smoking, and doing various drugs as holographic flames licked the backlit walls. The air was humid, and if it weren't for my suit I would have immediately started sweating.

We walked around the center platform, moving through the crowd before spotting a private glass booth above it all in the back. From there, an asari wearing a black and white outfit watched us with cautious eyes.

There was no doubt she was Aria T'Loak.

We walked up to one of the armed guards who stepped aside, letting us go up the stairs into the isolated booth. Inside it was noticeably cooler, and the music was dampened. Aria had her back turned to us. Tali and I stayed at the bottom of the booth as Shepard approached her.

"That's close enough." She announced without moving a muscle as everyone in the booth pulled various weapons on us.

"Bosh'tet…" Tali exclaimed, unable to grab her shotgun in time as I forced myself to stand straighter.

The same batarian from before walked up to Shepard, instructing him to stand still as he did a scan.

"Is any of this necessary?" Shepard asked, taking a single step forward as the batarian's omni-tool blinked rapidly.

"You can't be too careful these days, especially when dealing with dead SPECTREs." She explained, turning around to face him as the batarian gave the all-clear on Shepard's scan. "A lot happens around here, and it's my goal to know everyone's buissness. So… what's yours, Shepard?"

"I'm putting together a team to investigate the human colonies going missing here in the Terminus." He answered truthfully, taking a seat on the large couch as she did the same. "Two of the people I'm looking for are here on this station, and I've heard you're the one who can tell me where they are."

"Depends on the individual." She remarked slowly with a raised brow, looking at the two of us. I could see the gears moving in her head as something came to her mind, but she quickly returned her attention to Shepard. "Who are you looking for?"

"Dr. Mordin Solus and Archangel." He replied, crossing one of his legs over the other.

"Hm… you're interested in some dangerous people." She said with a smile, leaning back against the couch cushions. "I can tell you where Mordin is, but Archangel is a little more… tricky."

"Why is that?" He asked, maintaining his posture.

"Archangel has made enemies out of nearly everyone on this station, and it's catching up to him." She explained, looking more annoyed than anything else. "Word is that his team recently suffered several losses, but until the mercs try and make a move on him, I have no idea where he actually bases his operations."

"Why haven't you gone after him?" Shepard asked, looking slightly confused.

"Why would I? He hasn't interfered with my buissness, and he's kept the three biggest mercenary factions on the station focused on him and not me." She said with a smile, looking rather satisfied with the situation. "In any case, you'd have to come back later for him…"

She stopped, locking eyes with me again but with much more energy this time around.

"Oh… I see you already have an interesting individual with you, Shepard." She stopped, directing all her attention to me. She looked at me up and down before leaning back in her chair with a smile. "So, you're that scientist that has Cerberus all worked up… you're quite brave, walking around here with that kind of bounty on your head."

"Bounty?" I repeated, raising my eyebrows in surprise. "This is the first time I've ever heard of any bounty."

"You didn't know?" She shot back with a smile, emitting a quick chuckle as her eyes bore into me. "Cerberus has a ten million credit bounty on your head. They posted it several months ago, though for what reason I can only speculate."

I took in a deep breath through my nose and swallowed all the saliva in my mouth, looking at the guards around me without moving my head as Aria let out a sharp laugh, throwing her head back before quickly regaining her composure.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on collecting your bounty… not today, anyways." She reassured in a disconnected, but sincere fashion. "I've been finding Cerberus agents all over the station trying to establish smuggling operations without my blessing. I don't plan on giving them something they want."

"I… appreciate it." I thanked, even though my nerves were slightly shot.

"Consider it a… personal favor that you owe me." She joked, turning back to Shepard with a more serious expression. "Mordin is down in the Gozu District. He runs a clinic, caring to the sick and wounded. Unfortunately, there's been a viral outbreak down there and I've placed it under quarantine. Last I heard, the doctor was working on a cure before the lines of communication broke down."

"Quarantine or not, I need to get down there and find him." Shepard said with determination, getting Aria to narrow her eyes slightly and smile.

"I'll let the guards know you're coming, but don't be surprised if they don't let you back out." She agreed, sitting forward slightly on her couch. "If you do find him, you might be able to help him spread the cure he was making."

Shepard nodded, standing up from the couch. He took several steps before Aria spoke up again.

"Oh, and Shepard?" She added, pointing her nose up a little more. "You clear the plague off the station, and addition to info on Archangel I might have some data waiting for you that you can use on your little mission."

Shepard had a distrustful look in his eyes, maintaining it for a few moments before softening.

"Deal." He agreed, offering her a handshake that she ignored. He turned around to us, looking annoyed. "Well then, I suppose we're going to the Gozu District."

"I noticed she didn't mention what kind of outbreak it was." I commented as we walked out of the booth.

"We'll have to make sure our breathing masks are secured properly." Shepard mused loudly over the music as we left the club, leaving the beats and pole dancers behind us. "Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"Its times like this that make me appreciate suited life." Tali said in a dry tone, taking an air filter out of her pocket and replacing her current one.

As we moved through the marketplace towards the entrance to the Gozu District, I took the time to absorb the fact that Cerberus had a full-blow multimillion-dollar bounty out on my head. Part of me knew something like that was a no brainer, but learning it while surrounded my criminals left me with a bit of a pit in my stomach.

I was surrounded by people on this station who would immediately jump at the chance to collect that bounty. My hand wasn't leaving the edge of my handgun for the remainder of this excursion.

…

Omega, January 12th, 11:46 AM, 2185

…

It didn't take us long to get to the Gozu District. One elevator ride later we were in the security checkpoint Aria's men had established. It was fortified with military-grade barriers and mounted guns. I could only imagine how many people they had gunned down trying to escape from the plague. Shepard and I secured our masks and opened the door to the district, ushering ourselves through as the door sealed behind us.

We were on our own for the time being. I pulled out my Mark III Plasma Gun, checking the canister to make sure it was sealed properly before activating the power supply. The weapon hummed as it warmed up, bringing a small smile to my face.

According to one of the guards at the checkpoint, the plague had killed most of the inhabitants of the sector. The only ones still alive were the vorcha, who's body chemistry rendered them immune to whatever it was spreading around down here. They had killed most of the people the plague hadn't and were in the process of setting up shop in former Blue Suns territory.

Vorcha were lanky little bastards with even shorter lifespans than the salarians, but made up for it in adaptability and pure ferocity. They weren't hard to kill, but you had to make sure they were dead.

"_Sean, you take point._" Shepard ordered over the comm as I nodded and gripped my rifle tighter. I could hear my breathing very clearly as I moved up to a turn, checking both ends before moving out into the open.

The place was a mess. There was battle damage everywhere, bodies, and fires that had yet to be put out. Several Blue Suns were busy picking up bodies and tossing them into a fire, incinerating them as another made sweeps looking for movement.

I began to wonder if this Dr. Solus was even still alive seeing all this carnage.

The three of us crouched behind an old kiosk, trying to make our way past the mercenaries without alerting them. We made it to the very end, realizing we had no choice but to go through them.

"Three on the left, two behind the crates, two on the upper platform." I announced, moving my head back behind cover.

"_Alright, once I give the signal, open fire from this position while Tali and I flank them_." Shepard ordered, smacking my shoulder real fast before getting up and moving back towards where we came from. I held my weapon at the ready, preparing myself to pop out of cover at a moment's notice.

The signal, as it turned out, was an exploding grenade. The explosion took the leg off one of the mercs, sending him screaming to the ground as the others frantically looked around for who had thrown it. I popped out of cover, using the kiosk to its best effect as I fired on them with superheated synthetic plasma. I cut down three of them with two-shot bursts before they retaliated, firing everything they had at my position.

Shepard and Tali opened fire from their end, cutting down the last three mercs in less than three seconds. I walked out of cover, letting out a low whistle as I met back up with the two.

"I hate these assholes." I commented, putting a plasma bolt into the wounded merc's chest before checking the way out of the area to see if there were any more coming.

"_These guys part of the same outfit that attacked you in Sigurd's Cradle?_" Shepard questioned, doing his best to avoid tracking blood.

"Yep. These guys are nothing but a private army of looters and thieves." I replied as we went down the alleyway the mercs had been guarding. "To be fair, I doubt the Eclipse and Blood Pack are any better."

"_They're not._" Tali quipped, holding her shotgun tightly as we came to a balcony overlooking a residential area. "_The Blood Pack are the worst, especially since the krogans started using vorcha as disposable front-line troops_."

We began to move down the stairs until gunfire rang out from below. We looked down to see several Blue Suns running away from the residential areas only to be gunned down by a large group of vorcha wielding old handguns and rifles. There were about eleven of them. A slightly bigger one let out a loud snarl, shouting for them to spread out as the others moved.

"Looks like they're pushing the Suns out of the district." I hypothesized, checking to make sure I had plenty of shots left. "It shouldn't be too hard to take them out, they don't even have armor."

"_I agree._" Shepard replied, reading his rifle as three started making their way up the stairs below us.

As soon as they turned the corner to our set of stairs, all three of us popped out and gunned them down, surprising the other eight down below.

"Kill them!" The leading vorcha hissed, pointing at us right before I blasted his head off with a well-placed shot from my Plasma Rifle. They all scattered, going for any cover that they could find as we rushed down the stairs. I set myself up on the landing, having a good view of the whole area. I managed to gun down two more of the little bastards before gunfire forced my head back down for a moment.

Shepard and Tali flanked them, rushing away from the stairs and taking down two more before the last three retreated. I managed to kill one of them as they ran off.

"_We need to move, they're going to come back with reinforcements if we stay too long._" Shepard ordered, waving me towards him and Tali as I jogged down the stairs and ran back to them.

We elected to avoid the path the vorcha had retreated down and took the longer way, taking our time and checking the corners. Shepard took point, making sure there were no threats before moving on.

"_That weapon of yours seems to do its job well._" Shepard commented, looking back at me. "_Have any more of those on the ship?_"

"Oh, don't worry, there are plenty." I reassured, looking down at my ammo counter, seeing 48 shots remained out of the 65 I started with.

We eventually came across a larger open market area that had been repurposed as a staging area for the Blue Suns. They were trying to hold off the waves of vorcha that regularly attacked their position with a mounted gun and several LOKI mechs.

"_There's way too many to attack ourselves._" Tali said over the comm with a drop in her voice, looking back at us as we hunkered down behind a wall. "_We have to find a way around them._"

"Hm… maybe we could sneak through those kiosks on the sides." I suggested, looking over at the right side which laid vacant. "If we're lucky, there might be a way out through there."

"_Doesn't look like we have any other options_." Shepard reluctantly agreed, putting his rifle on his back and taking out his handgun. "_Sean, you take point._"

I nodded, holstering my own rifle as I pulled out my Carnifex. We crouched, waiting until the mercs had their backs turned before quickly sprinting over the counters behind a kiosk, a burning kitchen filled with abandoned produce. A heavily charred chunk of meat was still in one of the pans, completely dried to nothing.

We moved into the back, finding a long hallway that connected all the businesses together. We moved around the crates stacked around carefully, making sure not to knock anything over before we came to another corner.

I looked around the bend to see something that immediately made my heart drop. There were at least six vorcha held up on the other side, likely waiting for a good chance to ambush the undefended side of the Blue Suns command post. Being this close, I was lucky they hadn't spotted me.

"Shit." I exclaimed, squeezing the grip on my Carnifex much tighter. "Six vorcha around the corner. No way past."

"_Miranda, are there any other ways out of here?_" Shepard asked into his omni-tool as I fought to keep my breathing stable. There was a pause before we got a response.

"_There should be a maintenance passage to the right behind you. There's a hexagonal hatch covering it._" She answered, bringing me some relief as I looked around and saw it. "_It leads to one of the power substations, so be careful_."

"_Roger that._" Shepard said with a nod, motioning to me and Tali to remove the hatch. We quietly removed the bolts by hand before prying off the cover with a bit of force. We set it down gently, making sure not to make any loud bangs as we all crawled into the confined space one by one. I took the rear, pulling the hatch cover back on with the upmost care.

Once at the end of the corridor, we found the substation which was still chugging despite all the damage that had been done to the rest of the district. We stacked up on the door to the substation, looking out to see the sign for Mordin's clinic. To say I was thankful was putting it lightly.

We quickly dashed across the open area, avoiding several vorcha hunkered down near the other side of the command post before reaching the door. We quickly entered, only to be met by several armed people and a few more LOKI mechs.

"Hands up!" One of them shouted as we obeyed their command. "Who are you people?"

"_We mean no harm! I'm here to speak to Mordin Solus!_" Shepard yelled at them as they looked at one another.

"Alright, you're clear, but don't do anything stupid." The man finished, holstering his rifle as we walked into the clinic proper.

The inside was filled to the brim with people of all species, all of whom appeared to be civilians. They looked scared, but all appeared to be healthy despite the plague. Aria's comment about Mordin developing a cure must have been true.

We were led into an operating room where we finally saw Mordin working diligently to stabilize a man who had taken a bullet to the stomach. We waited for a moment, watching him give the man a heavy painkiller before stitching him up all in short order.

"He'll be fine. Check on others after moving him." He said in a rapid-fire voice to one of his assistants, walking up to us with inquisitive eyes. "Didn't expect to have any friendly visitors. Too much chaos, death. Take off masks, air is clean here."

Shepard and I looked at one another for a moment before peeling our masks off, allowing ourselves a moment to breath in.

"Don't know why you would wear masks, humans immune to plague." Mordin quickly spouted, handing Tali a small canister about the size of an air filter. "Take this, plague bypasses mask filters. Engineered a cure, need to spread it through air filtration systems."

"The plague doesn't affect humans?" I questioned, immediately getting suspicious.

"Correct. Plague is engineered, not natural." He explained further, focusing on the two of us as he narrowed his eyes. "Who are you? Too well equipped to be mercenaries, experimental weapons… military?"

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance, working alongside the Migrant Fleet. We're looking into the disappearances of human colonies in the Terminus." Shepard began, folding his hands behind his back as he stood straighter. "I'm putting together a team to fight combat whoever's abducting our colonies, and I was told you were someone to look for."

"Human colonies disappearing troublesome, likely symptom of bigger problem… Reapers?" He asked, getting a surprise reaction out of me and Shepard. "No no no. Either way, cannot leave. Must cure plague first, but can't leave clinic unattended."

"What do you need us to do, doctor?" Shepard volunteered, folding his arms across his chest as Mordin smiled.

"Need to go to atmosphere processing, spread cure through air systems." He explained, picking up a much larger canister and handing it to me. "Path dangerous, vorcha have control of sector. Must move quickly."

Shepard nodded as I attached the can to my back, swapping it out with my plasma rifle. Tali quickly attached the small cartridge into the back of her mask, taking in a deep breath as she injected the cure directly into her bloodstream.

We had an objective, and after seeing all the hellishness the plague had caused, I was determined to save these people.

…

**A/N: The mission to recruit Mordin had gone well so far, and who's to know what could happen in the second half of the mission? Also, what extra info does Aria have waiting for Shepard after the plague is cured? You never know.**

**I've been having a lot of fun writing these new chapters, feeling far more invigorated after take a few days off from work to further my writing. I don't know if any of you have every watched them, but ASMR videos on YouTube are surprisingly good for helping relax the nerves after a long day of work.**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	48. Inertia

…

"If you focus on what you left behind, you will never see what lies ahead."

(Auguste Gusteau)

…

Gozu District, January 12th, 12:39 PM, 2185

…

The three of us moved quietly through another small residential block, knowing from a map that Miranda had sent us it was the fastest way to the atmosphere processing station. The area was strangely quiet for vorcha territory, leading me to believe they were still pushing hard on the Blue Suns. It didn't matter either way to me, all of them were bastards and I was content with letting them kill each other.

We turned the corner, spotting the site of a recent battle. It was another one of the Blue Sun checkpoints, but it had been completely overrun. Bodies of vorcha and Blue Suns alike littered the kill zone in front of a destroyed gun, its dead operator still clinging onto it. A fire burned near the back, giving off the same smell I remembered from the burning shuttles on Reach.

I suppressed the feeling in my stomach, forcing myself to think of something different as we quietly walked through the carnage, knowing there could very well be more vorcha around.

"I don't think the Blue Suns will ever recover from their losses in this district." I said, stepping carefully around the bloodied bodies.

"I don't think any of these people will recover, the entire district is a loss." Shepard corrected, picking up a vial of medi-gel from one of the bodies.

I sighed, knowing he was right as we walked out of the checkpoint into a much larger, open area. We were right next to our destination.

As we neared the entrance to the atmosphere processing station, we spotted two isolated vorcha guards lazily keeping watch. They were making no real attempt at maintaining a proper patrol route, moving farther and farther away from one another as we got closer.

"I don't want them knowing we're here just yet." Shepard said as we all hunkered down behind a stack of crates. "Take them out with your knives."

Tali and I nodded to one another, breaking away from our cover as we snuck up on the guards slowly. I waited for her behind another crate, watching the vorcha pick its nose without a care in the world. The moment Tali was close enough to the first guard, I popped out of cover and plunged my knife into its neck, pulling it into the air with my free arm. It struggled for a few moments, trying to get the knife out of my hand before it finally gave up and bled out.

Tali pulled the knife out of her boot, quickly stabbing the vorcha as hard as she could in the head before it noticed what I had done to his buddy. She must have hit a soft spot or their skulls must have been weak, because it slipped right in and ended his life in an instant.

"Gah… damn it." I exclaimed, seeing I had gotten blood on my suit. "Nasty creatures. This stuff stinks to high hell."

"Luckily, I can switch my olfactory filters off." Tali remarked in a lighthearted tone, wiping the blood off her knife as I raised one of my eyebrows with an unamused expression.

"Good for you." I shot back, flicking a few droplets off the tip of my knife before slipping it back into its sheath as Shepard ran over to us with his rifle at the ready.

"Let's get in there." He urged, taking the lead as we all stacked up on the doorway. We opened the door to see the large, open area. The processor was all the way in the back, but unfortunately there were at least two dozen vorcha between our position and the control console.

"Well, that's concerning." I commented in a tired tone, getting back behind cover as I ran possible solutions through my head. "How are we supposed to take them out without damaging the air processor?"

"Let's get a better vantage point first." Shepard quickly answered, pointing at a set of stairs that led to an overhead platform. "At least from up there, the processor won't be in our line of fire."

We slowly and carefully made our way up the stairs, making sure not to alert the small horde of vorcha below. As we moved along the top, we heard two vorcha talking about the plague, causing us to stop midway.

"Is plague still spreading?" One of them, another big one, asked with great difficulty.

"Yes, but doctor has cure." A smaller, slightly better equipped one answered, placing an odd-looking canister into the air processor's filtration system. "We need to destroy fans, spread plague faster!"

"But Collectors want humans!" The big one yelled back, snarling at the smaller one as he raised his hands in anger. "Destroying fans will kill humans, make Collectors angry! Break deal!"

The smaller one snarled back, returning its attention to the canister. It pulled a handle on the side, letting out a noxious-looking cloud of gas that was pulled quickly into the filtration system.

"Collectors?" I questioned, almost raising my voice. "They're the ones behind all of this?"

"So it would seem." Shepard replied, raising his rifle with an angry look on his face. "I suppose Mordin was right about the plague being engineered."

"He mentioned the Collectors are after humans. Could they be the ones behind the colonies disappearing?" Tali questioned, sounding just as confused as I was.

"It would explain the plague. Isolate the population you are after by killing the unwanted demographics with a discriminating bioweapon." I agreed, taking in a deep breath. "Even though Cerberus has been trying to make weapons like this, I doubt they would test it in this fashion."

"We'll comb over the details later, we need to worry about spreading the cure." Shepard redirected, poking his head over our cover to get a better look at vorcha below. "Sean, didn't you mention those plasma cells of yours can double as grenades?"

"That's not the most ideal way to use them, but yes, they can be." I nodded, taking one off my belt.

"Good. I want you to use one of my grenades with it and toss it at that group over there." Shepard explained, pointing to a large group of the buggers, about ten or eleven. "Tali and I will close the distance while you provide covering fire from this vantage point."

"Understood." I agreed, taking the grenade from him and attaching the two together. Shepard and Tali moved to the other side of the catwalk, going behind the group as I armed the grenade. "Close your eyes if you value your eyesight. These cells don't react well with explosives."

I tossed the improvised plasma grenade as hard as I could, watching it fly for a few moments before it actually hit one of the vorcha square in the head. They all paused to look at their buddy before the grenade went off, detonating the highly-compressed plasma cell and creating a bright flash of blue plasma.

When I looked back over my cover, all that was left of the group was a smoldering crater that simmered with heat. The sudden release of all the plasma mixed with the cheap metal flooring had created a bluish slag that ran like lava, quickly burning through the ground. The vorcha that hadn't been in the immediate blast radius had either been blinded or flash burned. The unlucky ones had suffered both of these injuries.

Shepard and Tali moved out of cover, firing on the still surprised group as I opened up on the stragglers with my rifle. Some of the uninjured ones tried making a run for the lower levels, but they never got close enough being stuck between me, Shepard and Tali. The entire engagement was over in less than thirty seconds.

"Good work. Let's get that cure into the processor before more of them show up." Shepard urged, waving me down to the main console.

I ran up to the canister I had observed being used by the vorcha, carefully removing it and putting Mordin's in its place. I activated the sequence, immediately misting the cure and blowing it into the Gozu District's primary and secondary ventilation systems.

"There we go, a clean bill of health for the people of the Gozu District." I remarked with a smile, rubbing my hands together. "Should we take this weird thing with us?"

"Probably, Mordin might like to look at it." Shepard nodded as the door on the other side of the processing station opened, revealing several more vorcha.

"What was noise?" One of them asked before spotting us, letting out another spit-filled snarl before Tali blew him to chunks with her shotgun.

"I think now is a good time to leave!" She yelled, getting behind cover as several more swarmed into the room in quick succession. We were being rushed big time.

Shepard and I moved up, trying to push them back through the doorway before gunfire forced us back down. I took a moment to breath and allow my barriers to replenish, checking my rifle to see I was nearly spent, 8 shots.

"You sons of bitches!" I shouted with gritted teeth, cutting down several more with what I had left. The spent plasma cell popped out of the back of the gun with a small hiss as I quickly inserted a new one, slamming the breach closed as it hummed again.

Before I could adjust my aim and fire again, the vorcha were attacked from behind by a very big red and black varren. The vorcha panicked, attempting to run off as they were torn apart by the creature's massive teeth and claws. The three of us could only watch the carnage unfold.

As the vorcha were finished off, a turian wearing a full set of damaged heavy armor strolled in armed with a sniper rifle. He appeared to be injured, having a large bandage wrapped around one side of his arm. He noticed us, yelling at the varren to stay as he walked over and pulled off his breathing mask.

"Shepard?" The turian named out loud, looking very surprised. "It really is you!"

"Garrus?" Shepard replied with a wide smile, holstering his rifle as Tali did the same with her shotgun. "What are you doing here, you crazy bastard?"

"That's… a long story." He answered in a much more somber tone, taking a seat against one of the crates. "I've been running all over the station trying to avoid the mercenaries for hours. The Gozu District is the only place they didn't want to go, so I figured I'd risk the plague for a breather and have Mordin patch me up in his clinic."

He paused for a few seconds, looking at the various vorcha corpses all over the place before going on.

"He told me that he had sent a team led by a man named Shepard to spread the cure." He added, shaking his head. "I came as quickly as I could, wanting to see if it was really you."

Shepard smirked, allowing the corner of his mouth to curl up before Tali got closer.

"Why are the mercenaries after you?" Tali questioned, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Me and good team of people have spent the last few months making ourselves a nuisance with the station's criminal factions." He said with thin veneer of satisfaction. "That was until a few hours ago when everything went to hell."

"What happened?" I asked, still holding my rifle tightly out of paranoia, adrenaline still flowing through my veins.

"I was lured into an ambush set up by one of my former teammates, but managed to just barely escape." He explained as the varren slowly walked over and sat next to him. "When I got back to our base, everyone was dead. The only survivor was our explosive expert's pet varren, Hobbes."

The varren panted, teeth dripping in vorcha blood as Garrus pet the underside of its chin.

"Wait a minute… you're Archangel?" Shepard deduced as Garrus let out an amused huff.

"I used to be. Now I'm just a lone turian with a lot of enemies." He replied, standing back up.

"You don't have to be. We're on a mission to stop the human colonies in the Terminus Systems from going missing." Shepard explained, walking all the way up to him. "Want to join us? We could use you on the team again."

Garrus paused for a moment, looking at me and Tali before his face shifted.

"How could I say no to that?" He agreed in a coy tone, giving Shepard a big handshake.

"Welcome back, Garrus." Shepard finished as we packed up our gear and began our trip back to Mordin's clinic.

…

Gozu District, January 12th, 1:10 PM, 2185

…

The path back to Mordin's clinic was surprisingly quiet despite all the destruction we had caused at the processing station. It gave us plenty of time to shoot the breeze and gave me valuable time to relax a bit.

"So, what's your story?" Garrus asked as we drifted in the back of the group.

"My story? Huh… I could write a novel." I joked, still able to feel the radiant heat from the rifle on my back. "Me, my wife, and our team have been shacked up in the Migrant Fleet for the last few years building advanced tech for the quarians."

"I remember you from those news reports all the outlets ran." He commented with genuine curiosity, coking his head slightly. "I was still working at C-Sec when you guys came to the Citadel and made that "announcement" of yours."

"Yeah, thinking about the look on Sparatus's face still makes me chuckle." I remarked with a smile, looking down at Hobbes who was following in between us. "I thought for sure they were going to try and have us detained, but luckily we came, saw, and dropped our nukes before anyone could blink."

That got a sharp chuckle out of Tali, who took a moment to recompose herself before going on.

"Where did you guys go, anyways?" He asked in a much more serious tone. "They had SPECTREs looking all over the place for the Migrant Fleet."

"Oh, we've set up shop in a system way off the relay network called The Klenot Nebula." I answered without any hesitation, knowing he would likely be seeing it at some point in the future. "It's located directly between Rosetta Nebula and Phoenix Massing."

"That's really close to Geth space." He deduced, causing me to nod. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not at all, it would take months of travel to reach us with precise coordinates without our Reach System, and even then, we have a little surprise waiting for anyone who thinks they can mess with us." I elaborated further, allowing myself a devious grin.

"What kind of surprise?" Garrus inquired further, looking very interested.

"The biggest magnetic accelerator cannons in the galaxy." Tali answered for me, still sounding rather impressed with them after all this time. "He and his team actually managed to convince the Conclave to build gigantic guns that can crack the crust of a planet in one shot."

"A full-power shot, but the potential is still there." I whimsically boasted, allowing myself a "fists-on-hips" moment as Shepard shook his head with a grin.

"Why would you need something so powerful?" Garrus prodded further, obviously still not sure about the validity of such a defense.

"Officially, it's in case the Geth ever try attacking Reach, but unofficially they're for killing Reapers." I explained, slamming my fist into the palm of my hand. "I don't want those cuttlefish bastards anywhere near my home, and if push comes to shove I want to have the biggest stick."

"I think you and your friends have too much free time." Shepard joked as we neared Mordin's clinic, making sure the coast was clear before moving on. "I'd be worried if you were able to convince Alliance Parliament that was a good investment."

"Well, let's just say our motives go beyond science for science' sake." I reassured as we walked back into Mordin's clinic, checking in with the guards before returning to Mordin's lab.

"Very good. Cure is dispersing, should have district inoculated soon." Mordin greeted with a much lighter, yet still eccentric voice. "Good work."

"You were right about the plague being engineered. From what we heard, the Collectors supplied the vorcha with the plague and had them spread it." I said, pulling the strange canister off my back and handing it to him.

He quickly grabbed it, looking at it closely for a few moments before going "hmm" in a rather negative tone.

"This is troublesome." He began, setting it down on one of his tables as he held his hand to the underside of his chin. "If Collectors engineered plague, could mean more trouble in future. Why would Collectors go such lengths?"

"We already have a good idea." Shepard stopped, walking over to him. "Since this plague targeted everyone except humans, we've come to the conclusion that the Collectors were trying to isolate the human population of the station."

"Human populations… perhaps connected to missing colonies?" Mordin pinned down as Shepard nodded.

"They specifically mentioned that the Collectors wanted the humans alive." Tali added, arms crossed.

"Troubling news." Mordin nodded, putting his arms back down as he picked up the canister and handed it back to me. "If Collectors are abducting colonies, could be using anything to subdue populations… likely biological in nature."

"You interested in helping us, doctor?" Shepard asked again, getting his attention back on him.

Mordin smiled, walking over to his computer.

"Yes. Now that district is cured, I will join you." He agreed with a hastened voice. "Will gather my belongings once I have finished with patients."

"Will everything be alright without you here, doctor?" Garrus asked, pointing at him. "It's still pretty rough out there."

"Clinic will be fine, leaving it to my assistant, Daniel." Mordin reassured, holding up his arm towards him. "LOKI mechs provide more than enough security."

"I only hope I can live up to your example, professor." Daniel said in a slightly insecure tone before going back into the lab's storage room.

"Good kid. Inexperienced, but good heart." Mordin remarked with a smile, turning back to us.

"Our ship is docked near Afterlife, docking bay 84." Shepard finished, walking back over to the three of us. "Sean, you and Garrus can head back to the ship while Tali and I return to Aria for that information."

"Understood, sir." I nodded as Garrus walked back over.

"Shepard, what about Hobbes?" He asked, sounding kind of worried. "I can't just leave him by himself on the station."

Shepard paused for a moment, staring at the varren before looking at me.

"Sean, what do you think?" He asked as Garrus turned to me.

I looked at the varren, seeing it pant as it looked up at me with its big featureless eyes.

"I think as long as you keep him on a tight leash he can stay aboard the ship." I reluctantly agreed, petting the creature behind one of its hackles. "Has he had all of his shots?"

"Funny you should mention that, I just had Mordin check him half an hour ago." He answered quickly as I broke into a smile.

"Alright, lets hit the road." I finished, taking my rifle off my back as we prepared to move out.

This mission was already getting interesting.

…

Omega, January 12th, 2:09 PM, 2185

…

With dulled interest, Garrus and I walked past the two guards outside our cradle arm, seeing that nothing had changed during our time away from the ship. I could see the beauty that was the MFV _Normandy_ clearly through the grimy glass, allowing myself to smile as we went by.

"_That's the new Normandy?_" Garrus questioned through his helmet, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Yeah… why?" I shot back, curious to know his thoughts on it.

"_Nothing, it just looks a lot different_." He replied, sounding slightly exasperated. "_Kind of expected to see something like the original._"

"Don't worry, she's every bit as capable as the original and then some." I reassured as we walked the length of the docking cradle, seeing the pitch-black airlock door on the other end.

As soon as we reached it, I pulled out my omni-tool and contacted Joker.

"Hey Joker, its Sean. I'm here with an old friend. Can you let us in?" I asked, looking at the exterior camera that I knew he was looking through.

"_What's the password?_" He shot back as I threw my head back and exhaled deeply.

"_Open the door, Joker._" Garrus quipped up, peeling off his helmet. "For old time's sake."

"_Garrus? Holy shit._" Joker exclaimed, quite obviously surprised. "_I wasn't expecting to see you in this dump of a station!_"

"The door, Joker." Garrus redirected, causing a brief pause between our two ends.

"_Oh, right. Sorry_." He quickly apologized, popping the seal on the airlock door as we walked inside.

As we waited for the long decon cycle to finish, Garrus started another topic of discussion.

"So, the Collectors… I've heard things over the years about them, but they've never abducted entire colonies as far as I know." He began, arms crossed as disinfecting mist washed over us. "I guess the question is why?"

"Don't know, and right now, don't really care." I replied in a slightly disconnected tone as I stared at the inner airlock door. "As far as I'm concerned, all that carnage down in the Gozu District is their fault, and if they're really behind the missing colonies I just want to stop them."

"Agreed." He finished as the normal running lights reactivated and the door opened. We took a few steps into the hallway before I spotted Joker making his way towards us with his crutches.

"I got to ask, where's everyone else?" He inquired, stopping a few feet away from us before spotting Hobbes and nearly falling over. "Jesus! You brought a varren on-board?!"

"Calm down, he's domesticated and well trained." I quickly reassured, immediately turning around to face Garrus. "Right?"

He nodded, petting the creature as it sat down on the deck.

"Shepard, Tali and our new medical officer Mordin Solus will be here soon." I reassured, raising one of my hands. "I think Shepard just wanted us back here to alleviate the risk of an incident."

"Incident?" He repeated in a confused tone, looking between both of us. "What did you two do to piss off the people around here?"

"I've apparently got a ten mil Cerberus bounty on my head, and Garrus… well, half the station wants him dead." I elaborated as Joker gawked at us.

"Geez, and I thought my medical bills were scary." He remarked, shaking his head as the elevator down the hallway opened, revealing Miranda.

"Speaking of scary…" I said, pursing my lips as we walked over to meet her halfway. "Hello Miri. I assume you heard we killed two birds with one stone?"

"That's one way of putting it." She replied in her usual deadpan, offering Garrus a handshake which he slowly accepted. "Welcome to the new _Normandy_, Garrus. I'm Miranda Lawson."

"What do you do here, Miss Lawson?" He asked, crossing his arms as I took the moment to pet Hobbes.

"I'm in charge of all the recruitment dossiers, and I also review and organize any intelligence we come across." She answered, posture ramrod stiff as usual. "I am also trained in small arms combat, martial arts, and I am a proficient biotic."

"Quite the description." Garrus complemented, nodding before looking back at me. "Systems Alliance?"

She visibly froze up, taking in a deep breath through her nose before responding.

"Former Cerberus operative." She answered, folding her hands together behind her back.

"I didn't know Cerberus let their members leave." Garrus shot back at her, obviously not taking the idea of working with someone who was once affiliated with the organization well.

"They don't." She stated plainly and without any noticeable tone, narrowing her eyes. I knew thoughts of what happened to Nathan Sterling and Luciano Keller were flowing through her mind like a stream by this point.

"She's fine, Garrus. Give it a rest." I budded in, trying to defuse the situation before anything could happen between them. "Cerberus already tried to have her killed, and she helped revive Shepard. She's a clean as a plate-glass window."

He looked between me and her, keeping his eyes squinted before softening his expression slightly.

"Sorry, it's just… we've had a bit of history with Cerberus." He apologized, allowing himself to breath normally again.

"I understand. Take your time." She nodded, holding up one of his hands.

"Man, even went you guys aren't fighting it somehow feels like we're in the middle of a war zone." Joker said after a brief pause, passing by us and back towards the CIC. "I'm going back to the bridge where there's two feet of armor plating to keep me safe."

"That's one and seven eighths feet thick." I corrected for the sake of being whimsical, shaking my head as he flipped me the bird.

"Some things never change." Garrus remarked in a coy tone, crossing his arms. "Where should I set up shop?"

"Follow me." Miranda urged, stopping to stare at Hobbes with confusion before shaking her head and moving on.

Seeing as I didn't have anything better to do, I decided to go over to the science lab and make sure I hadn't left any of my project files there. I entered the vacant lab, quickly putting the spent plague canister into the isolation case and checking each of the consoles. As I began switching them off, I was suddenly startled by a clunk sound against one of the tables.

I turned around to see a small OSD on the center table, which had just stopped moving. I looked up at the ceiling, seeing that there was no place it could have fallen from. I picked it up cautiously, looking it over and determining there was nothing unusual about it.

"Strange." I said out loud, putting it into my armor's built-in card reader and opening my omni-tool

To my surprise, there appeared to be nothing at all on the OSD. I scanned it twice and tried plugging it back into the reader a second time, but all I got was a complete blank. Figuring my mind was just playing tricks on me, I pocketed the storage device without a second thought as I turned off the last console.

I left the lab, only making it a few feet before Shepard, Tali and Mordin quickly entered through the airlock. Shepard didn't look happy in the slightest, leaving me to assume something bad had happened.

"What's going on?" I asked, walking alongside him as we entered the CIC.

"Here, take a look at this." He remarked, handing me a datapad as we stopped in the middle of the deck.

I quickly scanned it, seeing it was a list of worlds occupied by humanity. It was ordered by population, and started with fringe colonies, then went on to major ones, then finished with our home planet.

Earth.

"What the hell…" I exclaimed, feeling my brow tighten up as I began putting the pieces together. "All of these colonies… they've been hit in this exact order. Where did you get this?"

"Aria recovered it from a meeting between the Collectors and Blue Suns two years ago." He answered, looking incredibly livid. "I can't believe someone could hold onto data this valuable…"

I stood there with baited breath, unable to imagine how Shepard felt about all of this.

"Never mind. Ferris Fields is their next target." Shepard redirected himself, pointing to it on the datapad. "There are over eighty thousand people there. They'll take every man, woman, and child if we don't get there as soon as possible."

"Contact Hackett first, see if there are any patrols that'll move in to assist." I replied, handing the datapad back to him as I bounced on my feet. "I'll see if the Admirals have any ships they can spare."

"Good luck." He finished in an uncertain tone, nodding to me as we both ran off.

I didn't think we were ready to take on this threat yet, but we had to at least try. We owed it to all the lives lost.

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 13th, 12:58 AM, 2185

…

I was unable to sleep the entire night as we sped towards Ferris Fields. No matter how much I tried to shut my eyes, they immediately refocused on the picture of me and Mara together, leaving me with a deep, empty feeling in my stomach.

Shepard had gotten in touch with Hackett who hadn't been able to secure any ships that would make it to the colony in time. My brief conversation with the Admirals had been equally fruitless, though it was nice to see Admirals Mal and Koris.

I rubbed my eyes, suddenly realizing that I hadn't blinked for several minutes as they began to sting. I cursed at myself silently before I heard a knock at my bunk's door.

I opened it quickly, fully alert to see Miranda standing there.

"We're on the edge of the system. Shepard wants us all to gear up." She quickly explained, an unsure look clear on her face as I nodded, hopping out of my bunk and locking the door.

It was time to see if we could meet our enemy face-to-face.

...

**A/N: So, things are moving even faster. We've got Mordin and Garrus, along with a survivor from the Archangel base to boot in the form of Hobbes, a 180-pound fish dog. We're also on the track to Ferris Fields, and we'll have to see what happens with that later in the next chapter.**

**College is starting up again soon, and without commenting on the political aspects of the situation, it appears there is a very real possibility of something happening between the U.S.A and North Korea soon. If things do turn hot, I may or may not decide to join the Army, so who knows?**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


	49. Endeavor

…

"What good's an honest soldier if he can be ordered to behave like a terrorist?"

(JC Denton)

…

MFV _Normandy_, January 13th, 1:12 AM, 2185

…

Once more I paced back and forth on the bridge of the _Normandy_, waiting anxiously as we approached the Dresselhaus system in the Titan Nebula. Ferris Fields was in the system along with two uninhabitable planets. We were approaching using conventional FTL due to the stealth systems being active, and my nerves were beyond shot. If it weren't for the overwhelming sense to do the right thing, I'd probably crawl into my bunk and stay there.

Everyone on the bridge was quiet as we approached the colony, even Joker who was completely stone-faced. I kept eyeing up the radar console in the corner, seeing if there were any signals at all it could detect.

"ETA is one minute." Joker announced, keeping his eyes glued firmly on the controls in front of him as we all waited. "Still no communication activity."

"That's a bad sign." Garrus commented, arms crossed as he too stared at the radar console. "Wasn't contact lost with the colonies before they disappeared?"

"That is correct." I answered in a dull, expressionless tone as I stared into space.

"If lucky, just a simple comm failure." Mordin suggested, likely having noticed our somber faces. "Small colonies, common occurrence."

We dropped out of FTL with a dull vibration in the hull, still expecting g-forces in my gut despite the inertial dampeners in the ship. Out the window we could see the green and blue orb that was Ferris Fields. It looked very peaceful, but my gut was still tighter than a brick as I anticipated anything happening.

"I don't see anything on the scanners…" Tali commented, shaking her head as she switched between different settings. "No comm signals either."

"Try the terahertz locator, maybe that'll find something." I suggested, pointing at the console as I walked over and stared into the screen with staggered breath.

Dan's upgraded scanner pulsed, sending out T-rays that would bounce back if anything was there. Despite being originally designed to peer through walls and map out structures, we discovered that it functioned exceptionally well when used to detect ships utilizing stealth countermeasures. There was no way to block the rays from bouncing off your hull, especially in the background of space.

All the recon satellites the Migrant Fleet had blanketed the Klenot Nebula with were equipped with the same kind of terahertz locators we had built into our hull. If there was something out there, we'd find it.

I waited for a few seconds before something off the planet's horizon appeared for a moment before immediately disappearing again. My eyes widened, questioning if I had really seen something before looking back at Tali.

"You saw that too, right?" I asked, pointing at the spot where it had appeared.

"I did. It appeared to be cylindrical in shape." She confirmed, running the image back a few frames before it showed up again. "I don't know what that was. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Could it be orbital debris?" Miranda asked, looking over my shoulder at the blurred image.

"Debris don't just disappear like that." I dismissed, feeling heat buildup around my collar. "Whatever that was, it just left."

"I know what it is." Joker said from his chair as he looked at the same image from his console. "It's the same ship that attacked the old _Normandy_ above Alchera."

I could see Shepard's eyes widen before the comm station gave us a positive ping. Communications had been re-established with the colony. Joker wasted no time putting on his headset.

"Hello, is anyone down there?" Joker asked into his headset, only to be met with silence. "This is the Systems Alliance, can you read me? …Anyone?"

He looked back at us with a tense expression as Shepard shook his head.

"Let's get down there." Shepard ordered in a defeated tone, letting his arms hang back down as he looked down at Joker. "Find us a good spot that isn't too close to the colony, we'll travel the rest of the way in the Hammerhead."

"Affirmative." He agreed, gunning the engines as we walked over to the elevator and silently rode it to Deck 4.

No one said a word as walked past an equally silent crew, getting into the Hammerhead one by one. I could feel the gravity of the colony as we entered its atmosphere, knowing as well as everyone else that we were too late.

I took the co-pilots seat next to Shepard, giving him a curt nod as the bay doors opened, revealing an idyllic plain filled with little more than tall grass. We shot out of the ship as fast as the IFV would go, blowing away the grass with hot gusts of air as Shepard followed the nav marker in front of him.

I took the time to scan the atmosphere for any contaminants, unable to find a trace of anything around the vehicle. I shook my head, not sure what to make of this. If those were the Collectors, then there must have been something left. I couldn't imagine what they could have used to abduct so many people without a trace.

We pulled over another hill, finally spotting the colony prefabs in the distance. Shepard nodded to me as I pulled down the scope, looking at the settlement with increased magnification. I hovered over each and every prefab in sight, unable to see any movement at all.

"It's deserted." I announced, pushing the scope back up as I shook my head. "Christ almighty…"

"We'll move in closer then investigate on foot." Shepard redirected, gunning the IFV once more as the prefabs got closer and closer.

We pulled into a paved area, some kind of landing pad as Shepard killed the engines. He cautiously looked out the windows for any movement at all before he turned to me and everyone else.

"Masks on!" He ordered, raising both of his hands into the air as we stood up. "We'll split up into two teams. Mordin, Garrus, you're with me. Tali, Miranda, you're with Sean. We move in slow and cautiously, scan the area for any survivors or signs of Collector activity. If we come across anything, I want it recovered. Move out!"

Shepard popped the hatch as I readied my Carnifex, stepping out right behind him. I could feel my breaths become more labored as the sunshine hit my head, warming it. Even just standing here something felt off. All the doors in the area were closed, the power appeared to be out, and, of course, there wasn't a soul in sight.

It made me feel nauseous, but I suppressed the gut reflex, breathing deeply and forcing my heart to slow down. I knew I was here to do a job, and I needed to make sure I was in the right mindset to lead my assigned squad.

We needed to find out what happened here.

Shepard motioned to our team to head west, while his went east. We'd fan out, checking each prefab one by one until meeting up at the colony's primary comm unit.

"Comm check, can you two hear me?" I asked into my newly-created channel, turning and looking at them. They both confirmed, tapping the sides of their helmets as I nodded. "Right then. Let's see if we can't find anything."

"_Only if we're lucky._" Tali quipped, causing me to pause for a moment before shaking my head and moving on.

We carefully moved through the first unit, confirming my observation that the power was indeed out. I switched on my helmet's built-in flashlight as we slowly checked the inside of the residential unit. Food that hadn't been finished sat on the table in the middle as a child's toy could be seen lying on the floor. Seeing it nearly brought me to tears.

Failing to find anything, we walked into an adjacent storage unit filled with various colonial supplies, mostly farming equipment and specially designed seed pods for planting in the soil. There was a crate that had fallen over recently, and several of the seed pods could be seen on the floor.

"_This isn't right…_" Miranda commented, checking each corner with her modified M-4 Shuriken. "_Everyone is just gone, as if they got up and left_."

"Just like the other colonies." I added, gritting my teeth as anger began to take hold. "These bastards…"

We moved out into the open again, seeing we were in a small square. There was a small fountain in the center that sat still, with a flag above it that flew with the colonial logo. I walked over to a dirt area, looking for any signs of recent movement before my radio crackled. It began playing a low frequency static in my ears, barely loud enough for me to hear it.

"Did one of you two say something?" I asked out loud, banging the side of my helmet to try and get rid of the sudden noise with no avail.

"_No, why?_" Tali asked, walking over to me before stopping in her tracks. "_Static?_"

"You hear it too?" I inquired as Miranda walked over two, tapping the side of her mask before looking down at me.

"_Something's interfering with our signals._" Miranda deduced, opening her omni-tool and checking the comm strength. "_It seems to get stronger the farther northwest we go._"

"Shepard, do you read me?" I asked into the full channel, waiting for a moment before getting a response.

"_I read you, though your signal seems a little weak._" He replied, static still going strong.

"Yeah, we're nearing something that seems to disrupt our communications." I said, making sure to speak clearly. "We're moving in to investigate. Be aware that communication may be lost."

"_Understood. Be careful, Sean._" He finished as the main channel cut off, leaving me a moment to sigh.

Using Miranda's omni-tool, we slowly made our way to the source of the signal which appeared to come from a cafeteria unit. We cautiously moved in closer and closer until we came up to the back kitchen, specifically the walk-in freezer.

"What do you think it could be?" I asked through my mask as we stacked up on the doorway, our radios being too scrambled to use.

"Could be a colonist, could be one of the Collectors." Miranda replied in a similar fashion, closing her omni-tool as she prepped her submachine gun.

"Alright, on my go… one… two… three!" I counted down, Miranda pulling open the door as Tali and I aimed our guns into the doorway.

We were immediately forced backwards as something fell out of the freezer, nearly landing on us as it hit the floor with a solid thud. I landed on the floor, nearly knocking Tali down with me.

"Fuck!" I yelled out loud, my heartbeat jumping up as I felt adrenaline surge through my body. I kept my handgun pointed at the object, taking a moment to examine it before realizing it wasn't moving.

It was a body. A human body.

"God, damn it…" I exclaimed, getting back on my feet as I focused on the body's details.

It was an African-American male wearing a standard set of farmhand clothes. Condensation was quickly building up on his skin as he was exposed to warmer air, leaving me to believe he had likely frozen to death inside.

"That's an awful way to go." Miranda remarked through her mask, shaking her head as she swept the opening of the dark freezer with her submachine gun at the ready. "Sean, look at this."

I walked in, standing next to her as she illuminated an odd, brown bug creature on one of the crates with her gun's flashlight. It was unmoving, likely having been frozen the same as the man. It looked like a heavily-armored cockroach of some kind, having strange, glowing white eyes and large pincers. The sight of it brought back bad memories from my childhood.

It made me feel queasy.

"I don't know what the hell that is, but it can't be natural." I said, backing away from it instinctually. "Come on."

"But shouldn't we take it as a sample?" Miranda questioned, not understanding my sudden irrational fear.

"I's rather re-establish communications and call it in first." I denied, taking care not to slip on the icy floor.

As I backed up towards the doorway, I looked up at the ceiling, seeing there were at least three dozen more attached above us. My heart froze the moment I saw several of them moving.

"Oh, no no no!" I shouted in a sudden panic, immediately dashing out of the freezer as Miranda followed suit. "Get that door closed now!"

Tali and I pulled the dead colonist out of the way as Miranda slammed the door shut, squashing on of the "bug" things in the doorway and causing the static in our headsets to lessen slightly.

I panted as adrenaline forced my heart into overdrive, giving me mild chest pains.

"We need to get into contact with Shepard ASAP." I forced out, getting back on my feet. "Seal that door, I don't want those things getting out."

"Right." Tali nodded, locking out the door controls with a keycode.

As she finished, something else happened that I hadn't expected.

The colonist who I had presumed dead suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, causing all of us to turn to him in another bout of shock. His body was still stiff as a bone, but he shook uncontrollably as his bloodshot eyes darted back and forth at all of us.

"Sir, sir!" I stammered out, trying to calm him down as Tali and Miranda crouched down next to him. "It's OK, sir. We're here to help, it's alright!"

All he could do is stare at the ceiling, facial features frozen as tears streamed from his eyes.

"Miranda, get out of the jamming range of those… things and tell Shepard we have a survivor." I ordered, looking back to Tali. "Let's get him out of here, we need to warm him up."

She nodded as the two of us picked him up, carrying him out of the cafeteria and into the sun outside. To my complete surprise, the man wasn't that cold, and his stiffness wasn't due to the cold either. His muscles seemed to be seized up, completely locked from head to toe. Only a few small muscles appeared to be moving, and those were just the ones vital to keeping his internal organs going. I couldn't understand it at first, but then it dawned on me.

This man was trapped in there with those things, and they clearly weren't natural as far as I could tell from the brief glimpse I got. They appeared to have communication-jamming properties based on how our signal strength increased the farther we moved away from them, and they looked to be equipped with pincers thick enough to pierce skin and clothing.

My best guess was that these "bugs" were what the Collectors were using to attack the colonies. If they were released in swarms, they'd be able to subdue the colony populations by cutting off communications and attacking with a paralytic toxin or venom. then the Collectors would swoop in themselves to pick them up and load them onto their ship.

I was unable to detect what kind of toxins were in the man's body, but whatever it was his liver seemed to slowly weening it out. His fingers were slowly beginning to twitch as his breathing started to normalize.

"Shepard's on his way, he wants to check a few more residential units first." Miranda said, running back over to us. "I can't believe we've found a survivor. How didn't they find him?"

"The thick walls of the freezer must have shielded him and those creatures from whatever kinds of scanners they were using." Tali theorized, administering medi-gel to the areas where he had fallen and broken his skin.

"_Ground team, this is Joker, can anyone read me?_" My comm crackled, forcing me to stand up and move farther away.

"_We read you loud and clear Joker, go ahead._" Shepard replied, sounding worried as I began to feel the same.

"_Another ship just jumped into the system. The IFF tags it as a Cerberus frigate._" He explained as my heart dropped, and Miranda's face shrunk as well.

"Have they detected us?" I asked quickly, nearly yelling before I restrained myself.

"_Don't think so, the stealth systems are still running at full capacity._" He answered in a hopeful tone, pausing for a moment. "_It looks like they've released a shuttle. Its heading towards your location._"

"They're probably here to investigate the colony's disappearance, same as us." Miranda suggested, looking at me with widened eyes.

"_What should we do about this?_" Garrus asked over the comm, sounding unsure as to how to handle the situation. "_Most of us aren't too popular with them, you know._"

Silence filled the channel for several seconds as Shepard mulled over our options.

"_Sean, find a place to shack up with the survivor while we make our way over to you._" He ordered, surprising me and Miranda.

"We're not going to leave?" I questioned, not sure what his motives were.

"_No. I want to hear what they have to say about this_." He elaborated further, deepening his tone as I nodded to myself. "_We'll prepare an ambush, then capture and question them aboard the Normandy._"

"Seems risky, but I can't argue with your reasoning." I agreed, looking at Miranda and Tali as I pointed to a taller building that overlooked the square. "Move, we'll be able to see any and all movement from that building."

"Heading there now." Miranda nodded as Tali and I picked up the man again, carrying him carefully up the stairs before setting him down gently on a bed inside of one of the housing units.

"Sir, we'll be back in a few minutes." I reassured, drawing my weapon as Tali and I locked the door and ran to meet up with Miranda.

The building was a larger, administration complex. Like the rest of the colony, it had been thoroughly swept of its population by the Collectors, and was eerily still. The open balcony that overlooked the square was covered in various large planters and chest-high railings, leaving it a good spot to look over the area without being seen.

It didn't take long before Shepard and Mordin arrived, quickly ushering themselves into the building with us. A sonic boom could be heard overhead as the Cerberus shuttle sped over the settlement at supersonic speeds before circling back around.

"Looks like they're doing a fly-over of the colony." Tali muttered as we made sure to stay hidden. "Could they be here by coincidence?"

"Not likely, the timing is too perfect." I shot down, shaking my head as I checked the ammo counter on my plasma rifle to make sure it was full.

"Report." Shepard ordered, stopping next to me with his Mattock at the ready.

"The survivor is secured in one of the residential units below us. The freezer in the public mess is filled with what appears to be some sort of bioengineered bug creatures that emit a disruptive signal that blocks communications." I laid out, speaking quickly as I tried to balance the Collector and Cerberus situations in my mind at once. "I also believe the creatures are also how the Collectors are subduing the colonial populations."

"You're sure?" He questioned, looking at me harder through his helmet.

"About 95 percent sure, sir." I nodded, taking in a deep breath. "I think it's safe to say we aren't dealing with any airborne pathogens. Whatever the Collectors used, it's isolated to that man's body."

"In that case, let's get these off." He replied, peeling off his helmet as Miranda, Garrus, Mordin and I did the same.

"If I might ask, where is Garrus?" I asked, noticing he wasn't here.

"He's at the top of that comm relay. He's going to try and track them once they're on the ground, and provide sniper support if needed." He answered, pointing up at the skinny tower that now had a small, blue speck on it. "Joker, able to pick up any comm traffic from our new arrivals?"

"_That's a negative. They're using an encrypted network_." He said, sounding nervous. "_All I can really tell you is that they landed somewhere east of the colony_."

"Thanks Joker, keep trying." Shepard finished, cutting off the connection. "Garrus, you have eyes on?"

"_Yep. It looks like three Cerberus operatives… standard small-arms, nonstandard armor… two males, one female_." He reported, carefully describing them. "_The female appears to be leading them… heading towards where we just came from._"

"Keep them in your sights and let us know when they're near our position." Shepard finished, turning to me. "You feeling OK?"

"After our little experience in that walk-in freezer, let's just say a few more hours were taken off my life." I remarked with a forced whimsical tone, making myself breath normally. "I don't even like normal bugs, Shepard. Engineered monster bugs are just the tip of the iceberg for me."

"Everybody has their own tick, I suppose." He nodded, shaking his head as he looked over at the empty cubicles below us. "I still can't believe this… we were too late."

"In the end, it's probably for the best, Shepard." I argued, looking over the railing for any signs of the agents before ducking my head back down. "If we were here during the attack, there's no way of knowing if we would have been able to fight them off in our current state."

"Try telling that to the colonists." He brushed off in a slightly disgusted tone, not looking at all happy with my statement.

"Hey, if we can get a few of those things in the freezer and study them, at least we might be able to develop a countermeasure of some sort." I pushed, trying to get him to understand my reasoning.

He simply shook his head, not wanting to hear it as we heard a loud bang in the distance. We all shrunk behind cover, peering carefully for the source of the noise.

"_One of them just blew open a door lock with a shotgun._" Garrus reported back, sounding rather cool and collected despite being so high in the sky. "_They're nearly at the square, get ready._"

I took deep breaths as I squeezed the forward grip of my plasma rifle tighter, knowing that anything could happen the next few moments.

The three Cerberus agents walked out into the open, coming through one of the residential units. The one in the front was a woman with olive skin and dark hair, wearing a light set of black recon armor with a few modifications I didn't recognize. She looked very alert, but also seemed to be annoyed based on her movement. She carried a M-5 Phalanx with a red laser sight.

The second was a pale-skinned man with an odd visor attached to his head that covered his eyes. He had an unkempt brown goatee that stretched up his jawline, nearly connecting with his similarly-colored head hair. He wore medium armor that had white and gray accents, but otherwise appeared standard. He carried a large shotgun which appeared to be of Cerberus make.

The last one wore a helmet that obscured his physical features. He wore unique heavy armor that was a combination of gray, black and yellow, and carried what appeared to be a grenade launcher, specifically a M-100 manufactured by Elanus Risk Control Services. Seeing it made me wonder if these guys expected some action like we did. He moved with purpose and discipline, leading me to believe he was either ex-Alliance or had some military training.

"…can't even follow basic orders. No wonder The Illusive Man had you knocked down from your position on Kronos." The woman spoke to the man with the visor, sounding pissed off even from this distance.

"Hey, it was locked, and the power was out. What else was I supposed to do?" The man with the visor shot back in a carefree tone, not intimidated at all by the woman's attitude as he smiled.

"I swear to god, Messner, I will end you the moment you step out of line again." The woman threatened, stopping to jab her finger into the man's chest plate. "I'm sick of you and your bullshit."

The man called Messner glared back at her, recognizing just how angry she was as he looked at the heavily armored man.

"Come on, Randall. Are you gonna let her treat me like this?" He said, trying to sound sympathetic as the big guy walked past the two of them and visually scanned the area for movement.

"I'm not getting involved in your stupidity." He replied in a deep voice, sounding like he was much older than he first appeared. "We're here to do a job. Shut up and do what you're told."

The woman smiled as Messner maintained his frown, moving towards the fountain in the center of the square.

"I can't believe it… that's Maya." Miranda quipped from next to me, looking at the three individuals below as Shepard and I turned to her.

"You know her?" I questioned in a softer tone as she looked at me.

"She's a lower-level agent, or at least she used to be." She replied, focusing on the woman as she moved closer. "I've never seen this Messner man before, but the name Randall sounds familiar… I think he's one of their combat veterans."

"In that case, we should be extra careful." Shepard finished, peeking over the balcony. "They're within range, everyone get ready."

I nodded as everyone else did the same, prepping my rifle as they got within twenty meters.

"Drop your weapons!" Shepard shouted as we all popped out of cover, aiming down at the surprised trio with our respective weapons. "I will only warn you once! Drop'em and put your hands above your head!"

Messner immediately dropped his shotgun with a shocked look on his face, throwing his hands skywards. Maya scanned all our faces for a moment before dropping her handgun, slowly raising her hands. Randall was the only one who hadn't followed Shepard's order, still holding his grenade launcher but not raising it towards us.

"Are you deaf? Listen to the man and drop your weapon!" I yelled out, aiming specifically at him with my plasma gun.

Randall looked back at Maya, who gave him a quick nod before he reluctantly threw the weapon at the ground and raised his hands.

"So… Miranda, these are they types you've been paling around with?" Maya mocked, narrowing her eyes as Messner looked between the two of them.

"No need to act disappointed." She shot back, submachine gun aimed squarely at her temple. "So far, they've been far better friends than you and the rest of Cerberus."

"I see you revived Shepard… and you've made friends with the good doctor and his team." She redirected, looking at me and Shepard. "You've got quite the price on your head, Dr. Michaels."

"So I've heard." I replied in an unamused tone, aiming at her instead.

"What is Cerberus doing here?" Shepard asked, jumping down from the balcony and walking towards them.

"Why should we tell you anything?" Messner blurted out, trying his best to put on an angry face as we gave him various unimpressed reactions.

"It's in your best interest." He replied in a lowered tone, raising his hand into the air before pulling it back down into a fist.

The ground next to Messner suddenly exploded outwards as a high-caliber mass accelerator round tore into it. Less than a second later we heard the gunshot from Garrus's position in the comm tower. Messner nearly fell over in surprise as Maya looked at the hole in the ground with minor shock.

"Tell me why Cerberus is here, and I might let you go." Shepard finished, crossing his arms.

Maya stared Shepard down, trying her best to read his expressions for any signs of weakness. Failing to call his bluff, she let out an annoyed huff, letting her arms hand back at her sides.

"The Illusive Man put together a small cell to monitor the Terminus colonies after Lazarus, the cell dedicated to bringing you back, went dark." She began to explain, applying all her weight to one leg as she leaned towards her left side. "We were patrolling the system in our ship before we realized there were no outbound signals coming from the planet."

"Unlikely. Timing of arrival too perfect to be random occurrence." Mordin rebuked, not sounding at all convinced. "Cerberus knows something."

"Take it or leave it, that's why we're here." Maya stonewalled, refusing to amend her original statement.

Shepard glared at her, not satisfied at all with her answer.

"Sean?" He asked out loud, turning his head slightly towards me without breaking eye contact with Maya.

"Yes sir?" I quickly answered, walking to the very edge of the balcony.

"Take Mordin and Miranda over to the freezer you mentioned earlier." He ordered, reaching into a pocket on his belt and pulling out zip ties. "Everyone else, we're taking our Cerberus friends back to the ship."

Before any of us could react, Randall suddenly flared up with a biotic field, blasting Shepard backwards as Maya and Messner ran for cover behind the water fountain. I fired several shots at him, watching in amazement as he barely dodged them and threw a biotic wave towards the balcony.

"Incoming!" I shouted as the wave made contact, blasting away the cover we had been using. Miranda and Mordin opened fire as Tali and I got back to our feet, and the cracks of Garrus's sniper rifle could be heard in the distance.

"They're making a run for it!" Shepard yelled, giving chase as they retreated towards their shuttle. "Garrus, where are they?"

"_They've moving quickly, very quickly west through the industrial sector._" He reported, another gunshot ringing out as we followed Shepard through the doorways. "_I can't get a clear shot, they know I'm tracking them._"

"Do your best, and let us know if they change course." Shepard replied, breathing picking up as sweat could be felt running down my neck.

We quickly turned a corner, seeing a door that had been blasted open as we entered the industrial sector. It was here oils, grains, and other farm by-products were processed and distributed through the spaceport, though like the rest of the colony it was empty. I had to watch my fire in this place, because a good stray round from my plasma rifle could light the place up like a fireworks stand.

We spotted them turning one of the corners as Messner slipped and fell, hitting several barrels of canola oil and getting drenched.

"Leave him!" Maya shouted from outside of our visual range as Messner attempted to get back to his feet.

"Wait, no!" He called out, raising one of his hands as he slipped and fell again. "You fucking bitch!"

"_I have a shot on the fallen one, should I take it?_" Garrus asked quickly with bated breath, as Messner looked at us with what I could only assume was terror as we caught up with him.

"Negative." Shepard answered, looking at him before looking over at the direction Maya and Randall ran off to. "Keep tracking the other two and let us know the moment they've reached their shuttle."

Messner looked at all of us, breathing heavily as canola oil dripped down his face and armor. He tried pulling out a handgun before Shepard knocked it out of his hands and punched him square in the face. He was out cold.

"We need to move him quickly." Shepard remarked, looking back to me. "Joker, we need an emergency pickup ASAP. Sean, take Miranda and Mordin back and get a sample of one of those creatures. Tali, help me move him."

"Got it!" I said with gusto, rushing back the way we came with a clear objective.

It didn't take long to reach the square again. By the time we had reached it, we saw the Cerberus shuttle speed away as Garrus fired off several more shots at it with no effect.

"Alright, considering there's a small swarm of those things in there we need to be careful." I warned, looking over at Miranda. "Hey Miri, can you create a wall of some sort with your biotics?"

"For a short time, yes." She nodded, crackling with a blue aura as she clenched her fist.

"Good. I want you to cover the doorway while we open the freezer." I laid out, looking at Mordin. "Is your containment device ready?"

"Device ready!" He confirmed, holding a small, clear box in his hands that he had been carrying.

"Alright… go!" I shouted, opening the door as static blared into our radios and a loud buzzing sound nearly deafened us.

Miranda glowed with energy as the bugs bounced off her biotic barrier, remaining trapped in the freezer as Mordin moved in closer.

"Inserting device!" Mordin yelled over the buzz in the air, slipping the box though the barrier slowly before one flew directly inside, bouncing around for a few moments before he closed the door and secured it.

I closed the door, slamming it shut at Miranda exhaled sharply and dropped her barrier. Beads of sweat rolled down her face before she cracked a small smirk.

"Good, now let's get our survivor out into the open." I nodded, forcing myself to run again as the rumble of the Normandy could be heard above.

We entered the residential unit as the _Normandy_ landed outside, getting the man to the ship just as Shepard and Tali arrived with our new Cerberus friend. Garrus arrived moments later with the Hammerhead as we sped off back into space.

Another fun day with Shepard.

…

**A/N: Well, the crew finally has some solid evidence to go off in regards to what's been happening with the colonies. What will come of that and their talks with Messner, only time will tell.**

**Another fun chapter to write, I got to indulge myself with a lot of the details this time around. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it!**

**I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned!**


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